Love Is Not Enough
by Mayet
Summary: Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough. (I don't own H50)
1. Everything

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Disclaimer: **I own neither the series, nor any names or locations you may recognize from Oahu.**  
**

**Summary: **Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough.

**Extended summary/ Author's note:** I'm going to start the story off slowly to build up some suspense with a bit of bittersweet Steve/Cath heartache in the middle, before we get to how Wo Fat is mixed up in this.

The premise of the story is that Steve and Catherine broke up under, for now, unknown circumstances ('cause I'm evil). Not sure when in the series this is set. Probably sometime in season 3 when they've had a bit of time to spend together and potentially discover obstacles in their relationship that had been absent before due to the rare occasions they were together.

If anyone has got any suggestions in regard to the timeline, please let me know.

**Pairings:** Steve/Catherine, some OCs mixed in for a little (or a lot of) drama, minor Danny/Gaby, Kono/Adam

**Chapter 1: Everything**

The grip on his beer tightened to the point where everyone at the table was sure the bottle would burst, though he was giving it no attention as his eyes fixated on the scene across the room. It stayed intact for the time being, though how long it would be able to resist the man's increasing rage was anyone's guess while his free hand clenched and unclenched at his side. Danny, Chin and Kono exchanged worried glances as their friend kept watching the pair dancing at the other end of the beach bar where they were supposed to have a nice night out. Danny could practically see the cogs turning in Steve's head, could see the inner battle that the SEAL's rational mind was quickly losing. Perhaps it wasn't really putting up a fight in the first place. They'd all noticed the differences in him since the breakup. He claimed to be fine, snapping at them for even bringing it up, and acted pretty much like he always had, like it didn't affect him. He was living for his job, though, putting himself more and more at risk with every case, and had become even more likely to shoot first and ask questions later. Before, she had grounded him. Had given him a little perspective even when she wasn't there. Now...

With a resounding thud, the bottom of the bottle hit the coaster, spilling beer onto the table with its force. Steve was up on his feet with an expression on his face that said he meant business. Instantly, Danny was on his feet, too, hoping to stop him from doing something stupid, when a hand on Steve's arm made both men pause. Steve turned to the person attached to the offending limb, ready to warn Danny off, but blinked once he realized his mistake. Danny blinked, too. He'd completely forgotten they were there as well.

"Don't, boss. I though you two broke it off," the guy said. He was a head taller than Steve, and at least as broad and muscled. Even the trainers, cargo shorts ending just underneath his knees and the Hawaiian shirt he was wearing couldn't hide that this guy would be a riot in a fight. Right, Danny reminded himself, Rambo's SEAL team is here on leave; let them handle him. He sighed. It was supposed to be a nice evening out for Five-0 and SEAL Team 3 (1) – Steve's partners, old and new, getting out and getting to know each other. They just had to pick the bar where Catherine would dance with some fancy suit tonight. Lucky them!

"_She_ broke it off," Steve's mumbled reply barely filtered through Danny's resigned brain, though the emphasis he put on the pronoun and the fact that he couldn't seem to say Catherine's name did.

"And you let her go." The answer wasn't harsh, exactly, but nobody could miss the slight accusation it it, or the tone that said very clearly 'your fault', however softly it was spoken.

Steve frowned. "What was I supposed to do, Storm? Force her to stay?"

"Fight for her," the other two SEALs stated bluntly, then Lt. j.g. Michael Storm sighed, gesturing for them to shut it. Fortunately, they did. This line of argument would take them nowhere. He'd try a different tactic. He had a lot of practice in talking McGarrett out of doing something stupid on behalf of Catherine, though, usually, it was so she could have him back in one piece and not to keep him away. Things had changed between them, and even though Catherine hadn't gone into details, it was clear that there was no easy road back for those two. If there was one at all.

Meanwhile, Steve glanced at them with a bewildered expression as if he just realized they were there, sitting at the table with the rest of them, or as if he didn't quite get their meaning. Danny considered for a second that it might be both. He had been rather focused on Catherine since she walked in the door with Fancy Suit and he hadn't really put up a fight during or after the breakup, so it might be the first time that the idea came up. Steve shook his head free, and looked back over to the dancing couple. Fancy Suit was whispering something in her ear, to which Catherine was giggling softly. Danny swore he saw a vein pop on Steve's neck, and decided to intervene.

"Look, what are you planning on doing?", he asked – clearly a rhetorical question – his arms already beginning to fly in every direction as he tried to rant some sense into his partner, yet again."What do you want. To. Do? Walk over there, all SuperSEAL in action, and tell him to get his hand off your girl, hmm?! But she's not, is she? She is not your girl; you two broke up. So you can't. You can't go over there and threaten a guy with bodily harm, for taking out and dancing with a beautiful lady who's single. Single, do you hear me?!"

Suddenly, Danny got a good look at Steve's face, and realized how lost he looked. All at once, he felt sorry for his friend. Steve was going through enough, even without adding his are-you-mad-tone. He tried again more softly.

"Look, let's go somewhere else. This is Hawaii; there are loads of seaside restaurants, bars, pubs and whatnot that serve great food. Let's just..."

"No, you're right," Steve interrupted him, trying to compose himself. "It's just... the way he touches her... it's not exactly..." He clearly didn't want to use the word proper as he had no business using it in regards to Catherine, and it sounded childish anyway, but it was clear that that was the intended meaning.

Michael looked over. "She's not complaining."

"I know that!", Steve snapped, at his comrade or at himself, who knew. "Look, it's just that his hands-"

"Are fine where they are. They never strayed from her lower back, " Michael told him, then pointed to the other two SEALs. "Kitten is like our little sister. You know that if he were just trying to cop a feel, we'd cue up to punch him in the face, and she'd be first in line. She wouldn't let anyone manhandle her like that. The guy would eat through a tube for the rest of his life."

Steve nodded, reluctantly, and they went back to their drinks. For now.

5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0

McGarrett thought he was being stealthy, but Michaels knew his former commanding officer long enough to know his tricks. He noticed almost immediately when Steve decided to try a different approach. He noticed the furtive glances Steve kept directing at Catherine and her companion, and the subtle way in which his friend tensed up when the guy got too close in order to whisper into her ear. The fact that Steve wasn't marching over there indicated that he would try talking to Catherine at an opportune moment, though. Michael sighed. He better be close to make sure that there wasn't any blood, specifically McGarrett's.

And it starts, Danny though, as Steve excused himself to the bathroom seconds after Catherine had stood up from her place at the bar. He was a detective after all. A glance at Chin, Kono and the SEALs told him that everyone was aware of how badly this could end. He waited a couple of seconds, then got up to follow Steve. Storm, he noticed, got up at the same time. A look passed between the men, and Storm smirked, patted him on the shoulder and gestured for him to lead the way.

5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0

Steve knew his friends were worried about him. Their entire dinner had been a feast of fake cheerfulness and stolen glances in Cathrine's and his' direction. He understood, rationally, that they were just looking out for him. They didn't want him to get into a fight with her or her stupid Fancy Suit.

They didn't understand how he felt, though, not really. The breakup was fresh, only a few weeks old, and while he understood all her reasons; had basically handed them to her himself; he couldn't fight the feelings that bubbled up seeing her there with another man. It made rage, anguish and helplessness rise to the forefront of his emotions. Storm had been only partially right. He hadn't simply let her go. He had all but send her away. She'd been the one to say goodbye first, but he'd all but pushed her to come to that decision, even when he hadn't wanted her to leave for a second. Now that she was gone, he should be fine. He should be able to handle it, but he missed her every day. He immersed himself in 5-0 to get away from missing her so goddamn much. Whenever he caught a break and couldn't distract himself anymore, or when he got home at night, he felt like he'd cut out a part of his soul and let it walk out the door with her.

Seeing her with some random white collar made it worse. The way the guy held himself screamed 'civilian' who'd served at some time in his life, probably to enhance his career chances. Those were the only ones who postured themselves to look like military, but maybe that was why she'd chosen him. Maybe she wanted someone away from the military, away from her and his lifestyle. Someone who was so fundamentally different that it wouldn't remind her of them when she looked at him. Maybe she was hurting, too, Steve thought, and drew equal amounts of something not quite like happiness and further pain from it. He wanted her happy. He didn't want her to hurt, but part of him hurt less thinking that she did – as if suddenly they shared the pain.

He excused himself from the table to go to the bathroom. He desperately needed some time alone. He felt hot, almost feverish. It had nothing to do with the temperature on Oahu, the three extra bottles of beer, or the gorgeous red dress Catherine was wearing. None of that completely registered in his mind at the moment. His thoughts kept spinning in his head, telling tale tales of what could have been if his reaction to her leaving him had been different and what probably was between her and Fancy Suit. They were way too comfortable with each other for this to be a first date, right? Had she gotten over him so fast? She'd said she loved him. Hadn't that amounted for anything? She had told him she loved him when she told him why she was leaving, so she'd had no reason to lie. Yet, now it seemed that she had quickly forgotten her feelings for him. Had they meant so little in the end?

He mused over all of this as he splashed water into his face. He barely recognized the man staring back at him from the mirror. No wonder his team kept telling him to go home early and get some rest. He looked like death warmed over. Ashen skin, dark rings and bag under his reddened eyes, and a forlorn look on his face that he bet even a fake smile couldn't hide. He'd really been exaggerating, but what could he do? If he wasn't working, he had too much time to think and too many anguished thoughts to sleep. And when he did sleep, he dreamt of her walking away from him, waking up to a wet pillow soaked in his tears. He hadn't told anyone about that, but he suspected that at least Danny knew, what with how often his partner came into his house unannounced.

Closing his eyes briefly to catch himself, he started to walk back to the tables when he ran into Catherine in front of the restrooms. What was she doing here?

"Oh, Steve, hi," she stammered, apparently not sure how to react either.

"Hi, Cath," he murmured, and couldn't help but use his endearment for her. Old habits died hard, and this one he was not willing to part with yet. Nobody else called her that. His SEAL team called her 'Kitten', a pun on the one time he'd called her Cat when he was still experimenting with her name that they found hilarious. Five-0 just called her Catherine – or Ramboette, in Danny's case. "Uh, the guys are here. They have leave."

"Oh, yeah, I saw them. I'll say hi before we... leave. I didn't want to intrude."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward pause, then it just burst out of Steve.

"Who's that guy?" He wanted to bite his own tongue off a second later. That came out great. If you're into accusations, that is. Catherine clearly wasn't amused if the frown on her face was anything to go by.

"He's a friend," she answered sternly, but evasively.

"Sure looked like more than a friend," came his prompt reply, and Steve couldn't believe it. He was saying things without thinking about them. He couldn't deny that it interested him, but he was being a total jackass to Catherine, and he knew it. Any moment now she would slap him, he was sure of it. Instead, a look at her face made him realize how defeated and hurt she looked. _Or burst into tears,_ he thought. Damn it, he couldn't take that. He'd never been good with crying women, but seeing tears on Cath would surely rip his heart right out of his chest. "Look, I'm sorry. It's none of my business."

"You're right, it isn't. We're not together anymore, if we ever were, and-"

"What's that supposed to mean: 'if we ever were'?! You said you loved me, were you lying?"

Catherine huffed.

"No, I wasn't lying. I would never lie to you about something so important."

"Oh, so you would lie over things that are 'unimportant', huh?!"

She took a step back, bewildered. He didn't quite understand were this argument was going, himself.

"Where did that come from?", she asked in a quieter voice. "What is this about?"

"I-" He stopped himself, tearing a hand through his short hair, and growling in frustration. This was not how he'd envisioned their next conversation. Sure, they'd both known that the whole 'we'll always be friends' crap was just that, or at least that it wouldn't work out that way for a while to come, but this... to have a fight with her in front of the restrooms of a seaside restaurant... He never thought it would come to this. He should shut up now, and let it go, but his brain-to-mouth filter clearly had stopped working a while ago. So, while he could take a few seconds to compose himself, he could not stop himself from saying what came out next.

"You're here with that white collar guy, a few weeks after we... after you broke up with me, when you still claimed to love me! Did you mean it? Were _we_ so easy to let go of? Did _we_ mean anything at all to you?!"

She didn't answer for a moment, and he could almost feel her hand twitching, itching to slap him for what he'd just said, but it was the truth of what he was thinking and he wouldn't take it back. If she slapped him, he would take that as an answer. Actions speak louder than a thousand words. But she did finally answer, and her voice, though barely above a whisper, carried over to him with the strength of a knife in the gut.

"We meant everything."


	2. Love is not enough

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Summary: **Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough.

**Pairings:** Steve/Catherine, some OCs mixed in for a little (or a lot of) drama, minor Danny/Gaby, Kono/Adam

**Chapter 2: Love is not enough**

"You're here with that white collar guy, a few weeks after we... after you broke up with me, when you still claimed to love me! Did you mean it? Were _we_ so easy to let go of? Did _we_ mean anything at all to you?!"

She didn't answer for a moment, and he could almost feel her hand twitching, itching to slap him for what he'd just said, but it was the truth of what he was thinking and he wouldn't take it back. If she slapped him, he would take that as an answer. Actions speak louder than a thousand words. But she did finally answer, and her voice, though barely above a whisper, carried over to him with the strength of a knife in the gut.

"We meant everything."

Steve let out the breath he'd been holding. He had expected the worst, readied himself for it, but this took the ground from underneath his feet. For a moment all he felt was a sense of relief and – dare he name it – not-quite-happiness. They had meant something to her. Everything. She hadn't been trying to let him down gently, not that he's ever truly believed that. He wasn't used to seeing her with someone else or thinking of her as separate from him, and these doubts came with that line of thought all to easily. A sense of elation filled him, along with a nudge of pain, because, as she had rightly stated, it was in the past.

All at once, his relief came crashing down and his heart clenched painfully. They had been good together, but now she was here, starting out into her new life. A life that didn't include him. Steve had been injured on missions quite regularly, but right now he'd gladly go through all of it again if it meant that he could trade in this feeling. Nothing had ever hurt quite like this. His heart raced without feasible reason, and when he tried to take a deep breath to calm himself, his throat closed up at the first hint of her perfume.

"And yet you're here with him," he spit out before he could stop himself. The continuing confrontation was doing lovely things for Catherine's complexion as she flushed with anger, but Steve recognized it as a sign that she was about to explode.

"Do you want us to go?!", she asked him in a challenging tone, daring him to fight with her. He never could turn away from a fight, and she knew it. Everything was falling into place for there to be a massive yelling match.

"No, I want...! I want...!", Steve cried out, then closed his eyes for a second to calm down as he noticed that people were beginning to stare. "I want him to go," he finished more quietly.

"But you don't want me back." Catherine was unwilling to back down. She wanted to see this through. "Not really. For all the same reasons as before."

"I... Of course I want... Dammit, I care about you!", he blurted.

"I never said you didn't, Steve," she went on more quietly at his admission. "I know you love me. I've known for a while, even if you could never say it. It doesn't change anything, though, does it?"

Steve was fighting for air by that point. She wasn't saying anything he hadn't said himself, or couldn't have guessed already. That fact didn't change how he felt about it. They had agreed on the reasons of their breakup. Catherine had practically reiterated everything he's ever said on the subject when she broke the news to him, every concern he ever voiced, though he suspected that she'd not believed a word of it even as she named them herself during their last conversation. There hadn't been a fight. His SEAL team was right. He could have fought for her, but what with? What with when she was using his own doubts to reason with him?

It didn't change how he felt about her, or that he wanted her with him.

"Didn't think so," she sighed.

"Cath..."

She held up a hand.

"You love me, you want me in your life, but at the same time you want me as far away from you as possible – and I can't do it anymore. We were living a half-life before. A relationship based in true feelings, but lived like a lie!" Her voice sounded breathy; she could barely get the words out. He was not the only one affected by their conversation. " Sometimes love is not enough. I can't... I can't-"

Closing her eyes released the first tear, and then it just wouldn't stop. One minute she was almost calmly discussing their situation, and in the next she was choking on her words, tears running down her beautiful face. Steve heart clenched again. He hadn't meant to put tears there. Why couldn't he ever just shut his big mouth? Why did he always end up hurting her more? He reached a hand and wiped the tears off her cheek. She just let him. The will to fight seemed to have left her, fled from her. She looked as lost as he felt. He opened his mouth to say something, to ease her pain, make it all go away, but nothing came out. He stepped forward instead, opening his arms to enclose her in them. It was probably the wrong form of comfort considering who they were, but he didn't know what else to do. He knew only that he had to stop the tears.

A second later, and before Steve could fully embrace her, Catherine shook her head and stepped back. "We can't keep going back and forth like this. That was why I... It'll only hurt more if we don't stop this now." He wasn't sure if she were still speaking of the hug, but he nodded. She turned around, and made to leave. Steve knew that if he wanted to fight for her, now was the time. He needed to make a decision. He wanted her back, and he wanted her away. Catherine had been right about that. He needed to make up his mind. Better late than never, they say, but beyond this point he was sure it would be too late.

He stayed exactly where he was. He watched as Storm and Danny came out of their hiding places. Storm went over to Catherine, while Danny walked up to him as if approaching a wounded animal. Steve supposed he was. Though he was in no physical pain, he was about ready to drop from how much it hurt.

He stayed exactly where he was.

"Why don't I take you home, Kitten?", Storm asked Catherine her softly. "It's getting late, and the guys and I can drop you off on our way back to base, hmm?"

Catherine opened her mouth.

"Only after saying goodnight to... What did you say his name was?"

"I didn't say, but it's Ben Foster." She smiled, and the tears were drying. Steve sighed. His SEALs could always make her smile, no matter how foul a mood she was in. Usually they did so by relating her stories of the vastly exaggerated amounts of trouble he got himself into during training exercises or when they went out to have a beer. He wondered if he'd ever have that ability himself again, or if they were bound to hurt each other every time they met. As he watched

Danny was talking to him, but Steve wasn't listening. His eyes were fixated on Catherine's retreating form. The Jersey Detective chanced a glance in that direction himself for a second. He noticed that Steve's Ramboette was walking with her shoulders sagged, almost leaning onto Storm's taller frame. She seemed exhausted, even if Danny could only see her back. She was pale and shaky. From the conversation Danny knew that neither had expected to find the other here. It had surprised him. He had been certain that Steve had come to the restrooms to confront Catherine, and she must have noticed his constant attention. The man had barely taken his eyes off her all night. Looking at his buddy now, Danny realized his mistake. Whatever little bit of life had been left in Steve so far, seemed to have been sucked out of him with this wrap-up of their relationship.

5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0

Michael had accompanied her back to the bar. Once they came within Ben's sight, he jumped up from his stool and hurried over to her. His dark eyes looked at her with concern. There was no way he was missing the wetness still on her cheeks from when she had been crying. Her eyes were probably puffy and red, and she felt like leaf with all her shaking. Ben took hold of her hands. His skin was scorching, so she'd also grown cold through all the stress.

"What happened back there? Will you be alright?"

She just looked at him for a few moments. He was a few inches taller than her, his hair quite a bit lighter but still brown, not blonde – she didn't like blonde men; she found the color didn't suit them – and a pair of intense, dark eyes set in a sun-kissed face. He was handsome, but that wasn't why she'd agreed to go out with him. He may live a civilian life now, but he had served, and it had left some markers as she found out again right now. Most men would've asked her if she was alright, though she clearly wasn't. He didn't conform to that kind of social standard. He called it as he saw it. Apparently, that was a trait she always appreciated in men, even though she really needed no reminders whatsoever of Steve at the moment. But, of course, life had had other plans, and not only given her a reminder, but rather shoved the man himself into her arms tonight.

"I'll be okay," she answered simply, not knowing when she'd be okay, but willing it to be so by declaring it like a prophecy. She pointed vaguely at Michael who'd stayed a respectful step away so far. "Michael is an old friend. He offered to drive me home. I wouldn't be very good company for the rest of the night anyway."

"I could drive you 'round."

She gave him a look.

"Hey, I found it when I picked you up earlier, didn't I?"

That actually made her grin. She started to feel a little better, but shook her head.

"It's completely out of your way, and I think I need to be... just away right now, you know?"

She could see that he still didn't like it, but wouldn't put up more of a fight. Instead he rubbed circles onto the back of her hand soothingly, and leaned forward to kiss her cheek, wishing her to get home safely. Then he looked Michael square in the eye, and Catherine could practically grasped the testosterone. The men nodded, accepting that if anything happened to her in either of their care, the other would come hunting for them. She wanted to slap them, to stamp her foot and tell them to stuff it, because she could take care of herself. Even before crazy, work-obsessed, loving SEALs had entered her life. She stopped her thoughts dead in their tracks as they turned, once more, to Steve. She could feel herself choking up again. She needed to get out of here. Away. Away from Steve, because just breathing the same air hurt. She felt like she smelled him in every breath she took. She could almost feel his hug back there. He had been so close it had been tangible. She had wanted to give in. She had wanted him to hug her, to hold her close and soothe her, but that would only start the circle anew. It needed to stop.

"It was him, wasn't it?", Ben asked, unsurprised. He must have already known the answer.

She also needed to get away from Ben, who, right now, reminded her of Steve and their failed relationship simply because she was trying to start over. He was a great guy, and it was easier to forget about everything for a bit when he they were talking. He was a good listener, but at this moment his concerned face set her her off. She'd told him a bit about Steve, but she wasn't ready to face the whole extent of that conversation yet. She didn't know if she'd ever be. Catherine was sure it would break her in two all over again.

"Come on, Kitten. Let's get you home."

Michael's voice broke her out of her reverie. She gave both men a small smile, and allowed her old friend to lead her away towards the exit. On their way there, the rest of Steve's old team joined them, carefully positioning themselves between her and their old leader. There eyes still met briefly for what seemed like an eternity. He looked resolute and lost at the same time, and she was certain that the same look was painted on her face. She briefly saw Danny, Chin and Kono and smiled at them.

The drive to her home was uneventful. And quiet. Carlos Huarez and Jack Carter drove in their rental, but they didn't seem very chatty either when she looked in the side mirrors. Michael drove her in her Vette. It wasn't entirely true that it was on the teams' way back to base, but she was grateful that she didn't have to drive herself. She was still shaky. She didn't fancy her chances of bending her precious car around a tree. They stopped in front of her house. Michael picked up her purse without question, fished out the key and made his way over to the door with Carlos close on his heel and Jack staying with her at the back. Catherine rolled her eyes. They were being overprotective and overly cautious. Who did they think was waiting for her in her house: an axe murderer? They had adopted this habit of coddling her when it became apparent to everyone but Steve that they weren't just-

_Need to stop thinking about him_, she admonished herself.

When they were sufficiently satisfied that not even a dust bunny was laying in wait to bite her, they turned on the light and let her in. She rolled her eyes again. She loved them. She really did. They were the most annoying, overprotective big SEAL brothers a girl could have. Which was also why she wanted to grab them and shake them at times. By the time she got into the living room, they'd already found the beer in her fridge and plopped down on her couch, leaving just enough room for her because Carlos was sitting on the armrest. This made her smirk. She set down beside them and took the beer Michael offered her.

"You probably shouldn't be driving, you know," she mentioned offhandedly.

"More so than you, Kitten. Or the Commander, " Carlos commented in his warm accent. "Chucked a lot of beers as he watched you dance with corbata (1)."

That made her sit up straight. _No, no, please_, she thought. _Please don't let them want to talk about that_.

"You never said... What happened, Kitten?", Michael asked softly. He had a fair idea that it was mostly McGarrett's fault. Seven years, and they'd been crazy about each other for at least four of those, and no ring and no babies?! McGarrett had once mentioned that it wouldn't be right to ask more of her, because he was gone all the time with barely any chances to get back alive – and that was on a good day! So yeah, he had money on his former CO.

"I don't suppose you could just make it go away?... It hurts, Mick, it just never stops," she told him brokenly.

Catherine stood up and paced. Michael could see she was crying again. If that was her normal reaction to the discussion of her love life, perhaps a tactical retreat was in order. Therefore, and against protesting looks from Huarez and Carter, he excused them, telling her to lock up for the night. Once they'd heard the click of her door bolting, the other two SEALs verbally jumped his throat.

**End of chapter 2!**

**A/N:** Well, now we've also had a little sneak peek into Catherine's thoughts, and know that she is not as unaffected as Steve may have thought. Why did they break up? And what will happen next? There will be a bit more on Fancy Suit in the next chapter.

**(1)** "Corbata" is Spanish for 'tie'. It's supposed to resemble the 'Fancy Suit' title. However, I have no idea if Spanish-speakers would actually say something like that.


	3. Who's that guy

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Summary: **Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough.

**Pairings:** Steve/Catherine, some OCs mixed in for a little (or a lot of) drama, minor Danny/Gabby, Kono/Adam

**Chapter 3: Who's that guy**

Breakfast was a quiet affair, which worried Gabby greatly considering Danny's usual exuberance and his appreciation of wild gesturing while he talked. She would never tell him, but she found it cute. It reminded her of a holiday spent in Italy where Danny would feel right at home; everyone there communicated like as much with their hands as with their mouth. She found his lack of noise and movement this morning unsettling. When he'd knocked on her door in the middle of the night, she had known that something was off, of course. They'd agreed to take it slowly as Danny's recent experiences with relationships had not been happy ones. So when he suddenly turned up at her place looking exhausted and a little jumpy, she had known better than to ask questions. She'd assumed it was some case the task force was working on that rattled him.

"Would you like some milk with your coffee?" She'd try small talk. Maybe that would get him to open up.

"They're idiots," he burst out without preamble.

Okay, she had not been expecting this. She opened her mouth to inquire about some details – who, when , how, why – but he was already continuing. He seemed to feel the need to make up for last night and this morning, because everything just spilled out of him without pause. He was talking a hundred miles an hour in that cute irritable tone he always used when talking about his partner. _Oh_. She suddenly realized this was about Steve. She should have known.

"I mean, who in their right minds has casual sex for a couple years whenever their port-time overlaps, then dates for another couple of years without ever saying a word to the other about it, without ever defining what they have, at some point clearly falls in love with one another – because honestly, it's right there in front of everyone, plain on their faces – and then suddenly decides, nope, let's call the whole thing off; I mean, they can barely take their eyes off each other normally – let alone other body parts that don't bear thinking about – yet when she tells him 'it's over', he won't even put up a fight; he's fine with it?! What manner of sane people have a relationship like that, huh?!"

"So, McGarrett has a girlfriend – or had a girlfriend, and now they've broken up?", Gabby asked, unsure if she managed to get all that.

"Yep, he had his very own Ramboette," Danny replied.

"Ramboette?"

"That's what I call her, 'cause, you know, SuperSEAL can't have a normal girlfriend like everyone else, no! Not only is Catherine Navy Intelligence, she can also kick ass with the best of them. I've seen her spar with Kono. Chin and I were missing popcorn, but the show was great."

"I see. And now they've broken up?"

"Yeah, she walked into HQ, calm as a cucumber, spoke to him alone for a few minutes, then came out of his office and asked me to look after him. Cleanest breakup I have ever seen if she hadn't been smiling and crying and if her whole body hadn't been shaking like a leaf. If somebody had poked her then, I'm sure she would have crumbled like a porcelain doll, which is very unlike her, let me tell you."

"And McGarrett?" She didn't know this Catherine, but she was clearly important to his partner and therefore to Danny. If breaking up with McGarrett had shaken her and Danny this much, she could only imagine what it had done to him.

"Pretended that nothing was wrong, of course." Danny sighed, exasperated. "I watched him for a couple of minutes after she left. He didn't move, Gabby, not one muscle. He stayed exactly were he was, where she had left him. The look on his face was numb as if nothing registered. As if nothing touched him. He just looked so... broken. I went in and asked him what had happened. Asked if she would be deployed again. He said no, that she had leave coming up and went back to business. If I hadn't asked him a couple of days later if he had plans with her, we wouldn't even know they'd broken up. It's not like their had been a big fight or anything "

Gabby nodded, while Danny sighed again.

"And now they're both hurting. I just don't get it. If being apart hurts so much, why break up in the first place? It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe being together hurt more," Gabby suggested, and took no offense at Danny's snort. He mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'could have fooled me', but she let that go, too. She put a hand on his cheek and caressed him soothingly. He opened his arms and hugged her to him. She could feel the warmth of his skin and the strength of his muscles through his button-down shirt. Gabby inhaled softly, smelling soap and him. "Maybe they just need some time apart to fix things. Find out how much they truly need each other, and everything will fall back into place, hmm?

Danny thought back to the night before at the restaurant, and sincerely doubted it.

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The first smile she really meant in weeks was received by Kono as they put down their surfboards and spread their towels on the warm sand. The young officer was a bit skeptical at first, almost ready to bail out. Catherine had hurt her boss when she'd walked out of his life, and Kono had resented her at first, but they had become friends while the Navy Lt. had stayed on the island. Seeing her almost break apart while looking at Steve yesterday made her all the more curious as to what was really going on between them. She hated having an ulterior motive to see her friend, and Adam had advised her to stay out of it, but maybe she could do some careful digging.

"I wasn't sure you would come," Catherine informed her, still smiling, albeit tentatively.

Kono swallowed uncomfortably.

"To be perfectly honest, neither was I," she admitted. "You're my friend, but so is boss, and this situation is crazy. He's hurting, you're hurting, why-"

"Don't," Catherine cut her short pleadingly. "Please don't, Kono. I can't do this again. Today is my last day of leave, please, I just want to have a nice day out with my friend. I can't talk about him. It hurts too damn much."

Kono cocked her head to one side. She seemed honest. Not that she had expected Catherine to lie, but she hadn't expected the raw pain that had been engulfing every word. She nodded slowly, wanting to kick herself. Clearly, she should have been more subtle. She needed a different approach if she wanted to find out anything. Still, Catherine was her friend and she shouldn't try to pry at all. She couldn't help it, though. Something was off.

"Okay, no more Steve. I promise, " she told her. "How about the handsome fellow, though? Does he have a brother?"

Catherine snorted, but it was a happy sound and Kono was glad she still had it in her.

"Tired of Adam, already? I'm sure Chin will approve."

"Actually, now that you mention it, a sister would be better," Kono replied teasingly. Her cuz was another person who could use a distraction from their pain. Malia's death had left them all hurt and angry beyond measure, but Chin seemed to heal slowly. He was still far from the dating pool, though. She shook her head free, and told herself to concentrate. Catherine was busying herself with the sunscreen.

"No, he doesn't have siblings," the Lt. answered.

"Pity, but I still want details."

"We came here to surf with the kids." A look from Kono. "Okay, how about I tell you over lunch. Surfing first?"

Kono grinned. "Surfing first."

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Steve wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. After the previous night, he wanted to throw himself into work to make it stop hurting, or at least get his mind off of it. Unfortunately, today was a Sunday and therefore, unless something really bad happened to somebody, work-free. He'd been up early as always, but without the motivation to do much of anything. He'd gone running, then swimming, then he'd plopped down on the couch and stared at his non-existent T.V. That's were he still was possibly hours later. He didn't really see what was in front of him, because last night's conversation kept running through his head.

She'd said that they meant everything. She hadn't wanted to break up with him, but couldn't go on like that anymore. _Like what_?, he wondered. She'd called it a half-life, and he had to agree that they'd been a bit stuck. Not moving forward, but unable to take it all back and move away from each other. That is, until she managed to get it together and dump his sorry ass. Not that he hadn't been asking for it. He's laid the words in her mouth, she'd simply given them back. He had figured that she might, had, in fact, planned on it.

He had not planned for all the emotional turmoil. He had not planned for how much it would pain him to hear his own words repeated by her soft voice, calm and collected, as she took it to the next logical step, just as he'd intended her to. He had been unprepared for the impact of the reality that she was gone. He'd known straight away what was coming when she'd walked into his office with her jaw set and yet quivering all over that fateful morning. He had steeled himself to no avail. Once she'd opened her mouth, it felt like she was depositing a ten-ton rock onto his chest. When she walked out again, he couldn't move. Couldn't think. He could barely breathe. Everything was hurting, and it hadn't stopped hurting every since.

If he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend she was still there. He hadn't brought her to the house prior to his father's death, for obvious reasons. When she'd come to Oahu on her first leave after, he'd been anxious. He'd thought it would be strange to have her here, in his childhood home. Then she'd walked through his door and kissed him tenderly with no sign of discomfort. She'd walked into the kitchen, dropped her bag on a chair, and grabbed two beers from his fridge. Once she'd opened them, she'd offered him one. He remembered standing in the door frame, watching her. He remembered thinking that she didn't look awkward in his house after all; she looked like she belonged. He remembered thinking that his father would have loved her – pretty, intelligent, strong, and, most importantly, Navy.

They hadn't made it to dinner. Neither of them had been under the delusion that they would, and once he'd gotten her into his bed that night, he'd set himself to the task of rediscovering every curve of her body, the taste of her lips, and the sound of her moans as he made love to her again and again that night. His father's death didn't hurt so much when he was in her arms. As they basked lazily in the glow of the aftermath, exhausted, he pulled her back against his chest and encircled her with one arm. It wasn't the position they'd later woken up in, but he remembered splaying his hand against the soft skin of her stomach as he fell asleep. He'd dreamt of sunshine that night. Sunshine, her smile and a child's laughter echoing through his house and through his life.

His phone broke him out of his reverie. Nothing but ashes left of that dream now.

"McGarrett."

He nodded, though the other man couldn't see it.

"On my way."

He wanted to kick himself. Why did he have to wish for work?!

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She'd watched Catherine all morning. She was great with kids. She surfed with them, splashed around with them, or just walked along the beach collecting seas shells with them if they weren't old enough to go surfing yet or were scared of the high waves. Whatever they wanted, she would do her best to make it come true. She was smiling throughout it all, and, as far as Kono could tell, it was as genuine as the one she'd received for not standing her up this morning. The children were flocking to her like she was some kind of exotic bird, bright and colorful and close enough to touch.

"She'll make someone a great wife and mother one day."

Kono jumped a little when she heard Kawika's voice. She hadn't realized that he'd come up to her.

"Yeah, let's just hope it's the right guy." His comment had brought her thoughts back to their earlier conversation, and how pained the tough Navy officer had looked. Now she looked like an exotic bird to Kono, too. Bright. Colorful. Brave. And oh so fragile.

"Any man would be lucky to have her." Kawika had crossed his tattooed arms over his chest. He spoke to her, but his eyes never strayed from Catherine. He seemed to study her like one might a rare prize. Kono's gut clenched. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to invite Catherine to their surfing event. Before, when she'd still been with Steve, Kono could have dropped a word and Kawika would've never looked at her twice. Now… _What now_?

Before she could form a reply, Catherine had walked up to them as well – flock of kids in tow – and told her that she was ready for lunch. Kawika raised an eyebrow. It wasn't really difficult to get that there was something more about lunch. The shift in the Lt.'s mood was tangible. Kono nodded, they grabbed their surfboards and headed over to Kamekona's shrimp truck. Kawika and the children simply followed them. Catherine didn't seem to bothered. She picked up a little boy, Josh, and let him play with her hair. Now it was Kono's turn to raise an eyebrow. Any minute now the boy will ask her to marry him when he was older, no doubt, Kono thought with a slight smirk as they sat down at Five-0's usual table.

"Will you marry me?"

Kono almost burst out laughing and not just at the question. Catherine looked flummoxed.

"Auntie Catherine can't marry you, Josh. She is already with someone special," Kono answered for her, noting the shift in the Lt.'s mood again. She was stiff as a board, but relaxed when Kono went on. "She was just going to tell me about him."

"That's okay," Josh declared brazenly. "I don't wanna marry her now, but when I'm older."

"Well, then we'll talk about when you're older, alright?", Catherine suggested diplomatically. "If you still wanna marry me then, that is."

The boy thought about it for a minute, then nodded his consent and wandered off to admire Kawikas's tattoos with the other kids.

"You have a lot of suitors. I'm sure half the boys here would like to marry you," Kono commented.

"And the other half wants to marry you, while Kawika has the girls all to himself," Catherine cracked back. They shared a grin.

"So...," Kono began. "What about handsome?"

Catherine's grin faded a little, but only to bring forth a soft, wistful smile.

"His name is Ben Foster. He was a Navy JAG, uh, a lawyer. Now he's a civilian attorney in a Honolulu law firm."

"How did you two meet?"

That made her smile even wider.

"On the beach, actually. He's just started learning how to surf and came crashing into my wave. Needless to say, I knocked him good once we were ashore. He offered to make it up to me, so we had lunch and started talking. Turned out we had something in common."

The conversation went on. They'd been out a couple of times, dinner and a move, that kind of thing. They'd talked a lot and found that they had more then just the Navy in common. Apparently, they had a similar taste in movies, he could appreciate good Italian red wine, although he liked beer, and surfing was soon becoming his favorite leisure activity. So far, Kono had to admit, he didn't sound too bad. She could see why Catherine would go for him. Similar background to her (and Steve), but completely separate life from the Navy (or law enforcement, or any other life-threatening job), easy on the eyes (she'd seen that for herself), and easy to talk to, too. Against her initial intentions, Kono was starting to like the guy. When he eventually came by in his belated lunch hour just to see her and spend some time with her, the youngest Five-0 member had to admit that he seemed to genuinely care. He introduced himself politely, and didn't flinch when she mentioned Five-0, though he clearly recognized the term. She wondered how much he knew about her boss as he chatted amicably with Catherine and her. He really was a good listener.

Catherine was watching the situation as well. She was happy that Ben had thought of her, but worried about how this would turn out. Kono was completely loyal to Steve, which was great in a tough spot, but had the potential to be catastrophic now. The Navy officer noticed a gradual change in her friend. When Ben first joined them, Kono was polite but detached. Over the course of the conversation she slowly opened up to him a little. Ben was his usual charming self, but not in an over-the-top, fake way. You could tell that he meant everything he said, or he wouldn't say it. He and Kawika talked about the island for a bit. Ben was a stranger to the islands, but he listened intently to what Kawika said.

"These islands are a treasury, and I agree with you that they should be treated with the utmost respect." He was answering to something Kawika had said to him that Catherine had missed, but looking squarely at her. Were they still talking about Hawaii?

Impulsively, she leaned forward and kissed Ben. It was brief and she wasn't sure how it felt. She liked kissing, and Ben neither pressed for more nor withdrew from her. It was nice, tingly, but something still felt off. She wasn't sure what to make of that, hoping it was just because they were still so new to the dating thing that it just needed more time. She had kissed the same man for nearly seven years. Certainly, she was allowed to feel a bit awkward at kissing another man's lips.

When Catherine leaned back, Ben's face spotted a smile. Catherine smiled back.

"Please tell me what that was for, Cathy, so I can do it again," he asked her, grinning.

_Damn it_, Kono thought, she' been starting to like the guy.

**End of chapter three!**

**A/N: **Okay, I know you probably hate me right now, but if Ben were a total asshole, it would be unrealistic ('cause Catherine would never date an asshole), boring and too easy.

Next chapter will see some action. A new case that may or may not be connected to Wo Fat. Then again, that guy has got his hands in everything, so... I'll let you decide.


	4. Bleeding Hearts

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Summary: **Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough.

**Pairings:** Steve/Catherine, some OCs mixed in for a little (or a lot of) drama, minor Danny/Gabby, Kono/Adam

**Chapter 4: Bleeding Hearts**

When Kono reached the crime scene, she was met with her boss' worried glance and couldn't help but think '_Shit_', because something must have obviously shown on her face. She was still reeling from that kiss Catherine had given Ben Foster. Sure, he seemed like a nice guy, but did she have to go kissing him in front of her. What was she supposed to tell Steve? In all fairness, Catherine had looked fairly embarrassed a minute later, and had sent Kono an apologetic look, but that really didn't help the young officer's dilemma. _To tell or not to tell_, she singsonged in her head, _that is the question_.

"You alright, Kono?", Steve asked, predictably.

She nodded emphatically.

"Yeah, I'm good. What have we got?", she asked, looking around and seeing the crime scene for the first time. A few feet from her, Max was kneeling next to the victim, a once pretty young women with light brown hair. Now she was spotting some angry bruises on her face and her neck was one single deep purple area. Kono swallowed awkwardly. Maybe it was because she wasn't as jaded as the rest of them, but seeing the vic's purple throat filled her with a sense of revulsion and made her want to run in the opposite direction. She didn't let any of that show on her face, though. She was a professional. Removing her gaze from the neck, she let it wander more attentively down her body where she found the victim's clothes ripped to reveal even more bruises all over her legs as well as a few cuts in her chest and lower abdomen. A terrible suspicion bubbled up inside her. "Was she-"

She could barely get the words out, but Danny seemed to understand.

"No definitive evidence yet, but... Sorry kid, but it seems Five-0's got its first rape case."

"And murder, Danny. He killed her," Steve reminded his partner. "According to Max, the vic's liver temperature suggests that she was killed last night sometime between midnight and 2 am. He'll be able to say more after the autopsy."

They both looked Kono over carefully, not sure how she'd take this. They'd worked violent crimes for over two years now, but none of them had involved sexual abuse so far. They didn't know how Kono would react. She was young and, to an extent, still idealistic. That didn't mix well with these kinds of cases. Some female officers took them too personally. Kono smiled tentatively at them, and told them she could handle it. Steve and Danny exchanged a glance, and nodded at her.

"So..." Kono began. "Since this was hardly the first rape case in two years, what makes it special?"

"We've got a witness," Steve said, indicating to where her cousin was interviewing another woman a couple of feet away from the scene. This one was tall, also brunette and clearly a tourist if her pale skin was anything to go by. Chin wrapped up the interview, then ducked back under the police tape to join them. A uniformed police officer was left to take care of the traumatized witness. "What did she say?"

"Her name is Brenda Shaw, and she works here at the club. She didn't see the actual attack or the murder, but when she came outside this morning to put the trash away-", here he pointed at the garbage cans down the alley, "-she found our vic deposited between them. She called 911."

Kono frowned that wasn't very special. Not that she needed a reason to hunt down the bastard who did this, but that couldn't be it. She was about to open her mouth when Chin, sensing her anxiety, continued.

"They thought to relay the case to us, because of something Miss Shaw said. Thought it might interest you," he said, looking at Steve. "There was a large group of sailors last night, and our vic was seen leaving with one of them. Miss Shaw remembers this, because their group were the best buyers and frequently called for a refill at the bar where she works."

"Which means..." Steve really didn't want to think about it. No wonder HPD had handed the case over.

"The Naval base at Pearl is our best bet," Danny finished for him. "We're looking for a member of the military who had leave last night. How many could that be?"

Steve snorted.

"A base like that has over a hundred staff members. Even excluding the marines off duty last night, and only looking for men, there's a lot of people to got through. Also, interviewing other staff members on duty last night could prove helpful. Maybe they've seen something suspicious. All in all, we've got a hundred or more people to talk to, and they won't necessarily be cooperative. Military tends to close ranks against outside interference. Sometimes they even take issue at their own NCIS investigating them."

Danny looked at Chin and Kono, suddenly realizing what Steve had said about other staff members. They all knew Catherine had been assigned to Pearl. That's why she was still on the island. If they had to investigate at Pearl, chances were that they'd run into her sooner or later – at the very latest when they needed a favor. Considering what Steve had just said about the military sticking together that might be sooner rather than later. Steve must know this, too. It would explain the resigned tone of his voice and the clear discomfort on his face. Danny abruptly turned to him with an idea on how to solve that issue.

"How about Chin and I head over to Pearl, and you and Kono see if you can dig anything else up here. Interview the barkeeper, the goones watching the entrance, maybe see if there's surveillance set up inside..."

Steve gave him a look.

"Danny, if they're going to talk at all, they'll more readily talk to me than you. How do you even suggest to get on base. It's essentially a military domain, you can't just walk up and expect cooperation. Five-0 has no authority on base."

"We could call the governor."

"And they could request that NCIS handle the case. They probably have an agent on base, but a team would have to fly in from L.A. The killer might manage to destroy important evidence in the meantime, covering his tracks." Steve's analysis of Danny's plan was precise and a little harsh. "I'm going."

"We'll see what the staff can turn up," Chin said as they parted ways.

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The car ride to the base was quiet for a while, the tenseness in Steve's shoulders as he drove discouraging Danny from broaching the obvious subject. The Jersey detective tried to find the right words to start off the conversation first. Not a tactic he would normally employ, but after what had happened the night before, he wasn't sure how much 'tough guy' was left in his partner. Catherine had always been the one area where SuperSEAL went soft, and Danny wasn't out to hurt his friend even more.

Suddenly, Steve decelerated and stopped at the side. They got honked at for their effort, but Steve didn't even deign the guy cursing him in the other car a look. As soon as the car stood still, he turned around to Danny with an expectant look on his face. Apparently, Steve had taken the decision about their conversation from Danny's hands.

"If you've got something to say, say it, okay!", he encouraged rather forcefully. He wanted this over and done with.

"Are you okay?"

The question surprised him. He had expected a long-winded explanation of why it was a bad idea for him to go to Pearl, starting with last night and going backwards to the breakup itself. The concern Danny openly showed him instead, put him off balance. He didn't know what to do with his partner when the man didn't have some smart-ass quip on his lips. The car was quiet again until Steve had worked through his perplexity. The reservist sighed loudly, pulling his hands over his face and through his hair as he always did when he was extremely frustrated. He turned away from Danny to look out the window. He wasn't sure anymore if he could have this discussion facing his friend.

"I'll have to be," he quietly replied, all but admitting that he was a far cry for 'okay'.

"Do you want to work something out... so you can avoid her?", Danny went on carefully.

Steve laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. It was strained and painful to listen to.

"Like what?", he questioned more harshly than he had intended to. "Let you peek around every corner first to see if she's there, and then run in the opposite direction if she is?! You can't protect me from her."

Danny opened his mouth, but Steve wasn't done yet.

"I wouldn't want you to." His voice had been so quiet, Danny thought he'd imagined it until he got a good look at Steve's face when he turned around. His friend was smiling. There was pain and resignation in that smile, yes, but also a tiny glimpse of true... happiness? Content? Danny wasn't sure, but it was the first smile on Steve's face in three weeks that actually meant something. The first one to actually reflect how his friend felt. Maybe Steve was healing, somewhat, but Danny doubted it was in a healthy way. If this were a bone fracture, he'd bet that the bones were growing together at the wrong angle. Danny knew what that would mean. Bones that healed up wrong had to be broken all over again to be set in the right position. If that was the case with Steve...

"I'd rather feel this pain if it means staying connected with her."

Fears confirmed, Danny's heart nearly stopped. He didn't think Steve could handle getting his heart broken again.

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After a bit of resistance and a call to the Captain, they were allowed on base, mostly thanks to Steve's SEAL past, much as Danny hated to admit it. They were escorted to Captain Coulston who looked genuinely shocked at the news of a potential rapist and murderer on his base. Since Agent Keaton had requested an emergency leave for personal reasons, and they didn't have a spare NCIS agent lying around, the Captain was willing to allow them access to the base to investigate as long as they kept him informed of the proceedings. He also insisted on calling a JAG lawyer over from the San Diego office.

"If you find the guy amongst my men, I want him brought up on charges and removed from my base as soon as possible," the Captain explained. "I'll see to it that you get my staff's full cooperation. You find it lacking or you need something else, you come directly to me. If we have such a rat here, I want him found."

"Thank you, sir," Steve replied, standing up straight.

"Alright, you can set up office in the NCIS' office. Keaton won't need it for a few days. I'll have the files of everyone who had leave brought to you."

"Thank you, sir," Danny piped up with a salute. Steve grabbed him, apologized for his behavior and dragged him out the office after the Captain's clerk. Agent Keaton's office wasn't far, and it took Yeoman Fell about fifteen minutes to procure the files of everyone who'd been free to murder an innocent woman on Saturday night. The list was comprised of about thirty-three names, and Steve was thanking his lucky star that no carrier was docked to Oahu at the moment, or the list would've been a lot longer. "Thirty-three. That's not so bad."

"Wait till we're done talking to half of them," Steve grumbled, and had Yeoman Fell pull the first man out of whatever he was doing for interview. "We don't want the others to know, yet. They'll figure out we're talking to people who had leave last night soon enough, but we don't want them talking to each other, maybe comparing notes for now."

"Yes, sir."

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The first sailor they interviewed was a Seaman by the name of Yates. He was in his early twenties, and looked like he couldn't harm a fly. He also didn't quite seem to understand what was going on when he came face to face with two essentially civilian investigators. He wasn't disrespectful, but Steve and Danny could practically grasp the confusion of the young man. They had to spell it out for him.

"A woman was murdered?!, the Seaman blurted, then proceeded to go into the closest thing resembling a panic attack Steve had ever seen in the middle of an office. "You don't think it was me, do you?! Oh my God, it wasn't me! I swear it wasn't me!"

Steve put up his hands trying to calm the man down, but it seemed to have the opposite effect on him. Yates just sped up the sequence at which he fired out proclamations of innocence. When even the otherwise eloquent Danny Williams couldn't get a word in edgewise, the partners exchanged a look. Danny nodded his consent, knowing that Steve was going to do something a bit more drastic to shut the man up. Seconds later, Yates had been lifted out of his seat and found an irritated SEAL in his face.

That shut him up, alright.

"Can we all calm down now?", Danny asked as Steve put the frightened man back down. "Nobody is accusing you of anything, Seaman Yates, but you had leave last night and we would like to know if you spent it at a bar called Rumours."

"Oh, no, sir. Absolutely not." The Seaman appeared to be seriously appalled by the idea. "I wouldn't be caught dead in such a place. I went to the evening service with my wife and then to confession."

Danny did a double take. What happened to the 'sailors have one in every port' philosophy.

They went on like that until they'd mapped out where about half of their potential suspects had been the night of the murder. So far almost all of them were at the bar in question and at the right time to commit the crime. When they'd taken a break for lunch, they'd called Kono to get everyone's stories checked out as best they could. Luckily, the bar had video surveillance in place. Unfortunately, there was none in the back alley – because that would've been simple – and the bar was packed that night. Sure, they could make out most of the sailors easily enough by their uniforms, but those with a bit of time had probably changed into civilian attire and the footage wasn't good enough to make out faces without some cleaning up first.

"Thus far, none of them have seen anything strange or suspicious. None of them can remember one of their comrades leaving with the girl. So far, we've got nothing. We've the Captain's clerk run through reports from last night; see if base security had anything strange to report. Anything on your end," Danny asked Kono on the other end of the line hopefully.

"Not really," Kono discouraged him. "We've interviewed the other staff members and some of the patrons. None of them could give us a description of the guy. They're pretty sure he was an enlisted man, due to the uniform, but they couldn't say what rank."

"Our vic walks out the front door with a uniformed sailor, is found murdered the next day, and they don't remember anything? What about the security detail at the front?" Danny sounded rather incredulous.

"That's just the thing. They didn't leave through the front door, or security would've remembered them. They think the two of them used the emergency exit. It's supposed to be wired, but too many customers use it to get in and out of the bar without having to wait outside again, so they took it off the grid."

"Great, just great," Steve mumbled. "Alright, we'll keep digging from this side. I'm going to get send you the list of sailors on leave last night and their photos. Show them around. See what else you can find on them. Maybe one has a violent record."

They ended the phone call on a decidedly unhappy note.

"So, back to work?", Danny asked, standing up. Steve shook his head.

"Not yet. I have an idea," he answered, hurriedly leaving the room.

Danny almost panicked at the look on Steve's face. "Why do I have the feeling that your idea involved a certain Navy Lieutenant you really have no business meeting again, and asking for a favor."

Steve grinned mischievously.

"And what are you gonna offer in return, huh? Dinner?," Danny asked sarcastically, wiping the grin clean off his friend's face. He hated to do this, but the two of them couldn't go on this way.

"I'll owe her one."

"You owe her a dozen times over already, and when has she ever asked for a favor. Are you sure that's a good idea," he snapped back. "We could both go."

"Danny, this is going to be... awkward enough as it is. I don't need a chaperone or a babysitter to make it even more uncomfortable."

"I still don't think-"

"Danny, just wait here. I'll get you for the other interviews. I have to talk to her" He stood up. Danny stood up with him.

"How about this," the Jersey detective offered. "I'll go to talk to Ramboette, and you continue with the interviews. You did say they were more likely to talk to you than me."

"Danny, I _have_ to talk to her. That's why you're supposed to wait," Steve told him, and left the room without waiting for a reply, leaving a highly suspicious detective behind. He went back to the NCIS agent's office, and talked to the Captain's clerk.

"Yeoman, according to Lt. j.g. Cooper, there were a few officers from Intelligence among the sailors on leave. Was a Lt. Rollins among them?" He already knew she was.

_One of these days_, Steve thought as the Yeoman looked through his files, _I'm going to give Danny a heart attack_.

"Yes, sir. I didn't think you'd be interested, though. You asked specifically for 'men', and Lt. Catherine Rollins doesn't fit that profile, sir," the Yeoman replied with a bit of cheek, clearly unaware of how he was treading on thin ice. Steve closed his eyes for a brief second; he hadn't been unaware of Cath's popularity with men in and out of uniform, but he didn't really appreciate the reminder.

"Could you recall her back to base?"

"Already done, sir. The Captain called everybody back after you briefed him."

_Great_, Steve thought sarcastically, _she's really gonna love me for this... At least it was her last day of leave, so it didn't get ruined by a case completely like it usually does... did_.

After a deep breath, he told the Yeoman to fetch her for him, because she might still have seen something. He knew she hadn't, but he needed her, and he didn't need the whole base to know what kind of favor he needed from her. The Yeoman nodded and dashed away to make the arrangement. Steve wondered how this discussion was going to go. He could understand Danny's concern considering their last conversation took a turn for the worse. He vowed to make this as strictly business as possible to avoid a repeat performance.

Here he got interrupted by a sharp, military style knock on the door. A few seconds later said door opened to reveal the yeoman bringing him the woman in question. Catherine's skin looked too pale against her blue uniform, and her lips were pressed together hard enough that it had to hurt, but other than that she had a blank look on her face that told everyone who didn't know her that she meant business. The Yeoman's eyes darted between the two officers, noticing the tension in the air, and decided that maybe he should leave. He excused himself hastily.

"Lt. Rollins, reporting as ordered, Commander," she said with a glance back at the open door she was still holding on to.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Please, come in." She closed the door behind her, drowning out all sounds as they remained silent for a minute. "Do you know why I'm here?"

"Yeah, the whole base will have heard about the murder by now. It happened last night, right?", she asked.

"Yeah, she was seen leaving with a sailor, so Danny and I came to find him."

"Well, I won't be much help there. All I can tell you is that it wasn't me," she joked lightly, trying to ease the discomfort growing between them. "Something about it is bothering you."

It was a statement, not a question. She knew him well enough to read that look in his eyes. He nodded slowly, unsure where to begin.

"She was raped, too," he said, then added without preamble, "I haven't told anyone, not even Danny, but she reminds me of you. Tall, pale skin, dark hair – and the way she was murdered."

"Strangled, right? That's what they say around base," she questioned.

Steve nodded again. "It reminds me of that guy in Coronado. He went straight for your throat as well."

Catherine watched him without saying anything. Steve had never had trouble meeting her eyes, and he was looking straight at her now, too, mostly. His gaze was skittish, darted away every couple of seconds as if scared of what she might say or do now that he'd brought up something from their distant past. This incident had happened shortly after they met as they and another Intelligence Officer exited a bar. The guy had come straight at her, but Steve hadn't had the time to throw him off before she'd already knocked him to the ground.

"That guy went for my neck to pull me in and stick his disgusting tongue down my throat; that is hardly the same," she replied carefully, trying to gauge his mood.

"That's were the sexual assault comes in. That could have well been you that night."

His eyes kept switching between her and the door behind her as if he was mapping his escape route if she took offense to anything he said. Suddenly, she thought she understood why this bothered him so much. Because this victim reminded him of what had happened in the past, he was stuck wondering what would've happened had she not been so well trained. Perhaps he was also wondering about what wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been there. That night they'd first kissed. Now he looked lost somewhere between the past and the now, angry and desperate. She stepped forward and put her arms around him in a soothing hug. He returned the hug immediately, sighing loudly. He pressed her to himself as if to make sure she was real, as if he was afraid she'd go up in smoke if he let her go. Or turn out to be their murder victim.

Seeing that woman had shaken him, but he hadn't let on. He'd concentrated on his work and let it distract him, but it had all come rushing back over lunch. That could have been her all those years ago. The sexual abuse, the marks on the throat, the back of a bar that sailors had been crawling all over. He'd felt as if the whole scene had been set up just for him. He had needed to make sure she was okay.

Her scent surrounded him, and her breath tickled his neck. Her body seemed frail against his taller frame, even though she was lithe and fit. He could feel her heartbeat as it palpitated loudly against his chest. Her arms encircled him softly, but he couldn't help but press her closer with his hands on her back, feeling the warmth of her body through her uniform. He could hear her breathing speed up next to his ear as the lengths of their bodies came into contact with each other. He looked at her then. Her eyes were half-closed and shining with passion. Their breathing went shallow. Passion had never been their problem. As his lips descended on hers, Steve was distantly aware that they were in an office on a military base where anyone could walk in at any time. To make matters worse they'd never crossed this line before. They'd always kept a professional distance while on a military base or a ship. Now, it seemed, reason had completely flown out the window as he backed her up against the wall, and kissed and kissed her. Moans began to fill the room with noise. Her arms were steady around his neck now, one hand firmly pulling on his hair and pushing his lips harder onto hers at the same time. One of his hands had stayed around her back, while the other had hooked underneath her knee, pulling her leg up and around his waist.

When oxygen became an urgent necessity, they separated, and as with all those years ago in the back alley behind a bar, reality set back in. Realizing what they'd been doing, they jumped apart hastily, still looking at each other.

"This is what I meant when i said we go back and forth. Will you bloody make up your mind! You either want me or you don't; you can't have it both ways!... What do you need?", she asked as she straightened out her clothes and put her hair back in order as best as she could. She'd put some precious centimeters between them, but her brain still refused to think clearly, so she went on stammering. "I know you. You wouldn't call me here just to tell me all this. You need something to find this man."

"I've got the files of everyone on leave yesterday. I need you to cross-reference them with other official documentation...", he rasped out. "Maybe one of them has a record."

She frowned.

"Can't you do that from your HQ?"

"Yeah, Kono is doing it right now, but, Cath, the facilities on base are faster, and you're more experienced in analyzing info. I-"

"You do realize," she started, pacing, suddenly angry, "that Naval Intelligence is not here to catch your criminals?"

"I'm aware. I wouldn't ask you if it weren't important. The Captain wants this guy of his base as soon as possible. He promised full cooperation from-"

Catherine snorted.

"I'm sure he didn't mean misappropriation of military equipment by that. Are you sure you can trust me with something this important, anyway?"

"I was angry, Cath. I never meant..."

She held up a hand.

"I'll get right on it. It's not like I haven't done it before."

With that she opened the door and hurried out fast enough to nearly collide with a Petty Officer walking past the office.

"I'm sorry, Petty Officer..." She looked at the name tag. "Derryl." She rushed along before he could reply.

5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0

After another four grueling hours of interviewing the remaining sailors on leave who, having caught up to what was going on by now, where proving to be much less cooperative than their first batch, Danny and Steve were on their way back into town. They had placed the remaining members, and needed to check their alibi now. This meant returning to the bar, and asking around if anyone had seen them during the approximate time of death. There were a couple of names that seemed promising. Four Seaman by the names of Marshall, Powell, Harris and Jackson, a Chief Petty Officer Walk, two Petty Officers First Class called Derryl and Murphy.

Each of these men had left their group for an extended amount of time. However, Steve had to admit that one of the men they'd interviewed had been right; anyone going to get more drinks or going to take a piss would've taken some time getting back, depending on how lucky they were with the cues. It wasn't enough to build a case on, certainly, but something else was bothering him. Their guy had strangled the victim with his bare hands. Any man could physically do that, but it took a certain amount of cold blood to get it done. You didn't just stare into someone's face while choking them to death.

"Do you wanna talk about it?", Danny asked him.

"What else is there to talk about?", Steve asked back, feigning ignorance in hopes that his partner would leave it alone. "We've done nothing but talk to people the entire day."

"Thank you, smart-ass, but I meant talking about what happened with Catherine." He used her name, therefore Steve concluded that he was being extra serious, and wouldn't let it go unless someone started shooting at them. Taking a look ahead, the road seemed quiet, so the chances of that happening were slim. He wasn't getting out of this.

"Again, nothing to talk about." Danny couldn't force him to talk, fortunately.

"Okay, see, you're being evasive. That just confirms to me that something went down," Danny explained. "Did you two argue again?"

Steve remained quiet.

"Fight?"

Still no response.

"Fuck?", the detective asked casually to test if Steve was even listening.

"NO!, the man sputtered. "Danny... how... Of course not!"

"Whew, calm down. I was just asking. It's interesting, though, that that gets a reaction from you."

"That would get a reaction from anyone," Steve replied, clearly miffed. "Where did you get the inspiration to even ask that?"

"Well, considering your situation with her-"

"In any situation, Danny. Is nothing sacred to you? I don't ask you about your-"

Fortunately, he got interrupted by his phone ringing. Steve thanked his lucky star a second time today. He had really no desire to discuss just how close Danny had gotten to the truth. Passion really never had been his and Catherine's problem. He'd always been attracted to her, even in the most inopportune moments, but he'd never so much as stolen a kiss while either of them was on duty. This breakup really was doing a number on him. Apparently, now he wanted her even more, and she didn't seem to opposed to the idea either. Then again, passion had never been their problem. It always came right back down to that.

"Yeah, Kono, what have you got?", he asked as soon as the connection was open, grateful for the distraction.

"Are you still at the base?"

"No, we're just on our way back, why?" Steve had a really bad feeling about this. He didn't like the tone of her voice. It made him suspicious.

"We showed the pictures around," Chin piped up. "No one remembers our vic leaving with one of them, but the security at the front remembers that one of them came in twice. They identified a Petty Officer First Class Derryl from his photo. When we went looking for it, the video footage from the entrance confirmed it."

Steve had already turned on the lights and the sirens, making a forbidden u-turn in the middle of the street, and stepped heavily on the gas when Danny was still telling Kono and Chin to meet them at the base. When he hung up, he turned to Steve.

"Care to tell me why you're driving like a madman?"

"The guy's a SEAL, Danny."

"Yeah, on a base full of SEALs. We can call base security, and they'll probably have him packed up nicely by the time we get there anyway. There's no need to cause a traffic accident." Danny was already dialing the number Captain Coulston had given them to keep him updated when he saw Steve's fingers clench ever more intensely around the wheel of his car.

"When I was done talking to Catherine, she rushed out of the office...", Steve said, getting louder when he saw Danny was about to interrupt him. "There she knocked into a Petty Officer. She apologized calling him Derryl, I heard her. If he guessed why she was there..."

Danny took a deep breath. He could see how scared Steve was. Steve's phone beeped again when a text messaged arrived. Danny took a look at it. It was an unknown sender, but name and picture in the text made it clear who had arranged for it to reach them.

"Step on it."

**End of chapter 4!**

**A/N:** Oh, damn! What will happen to Cath now?

This turned into a rather long chapter. I hadn't planned for that, but it just kept on growing and growing.

**Poll:** Do you want a flashback to the breakup in a later chapter? It's not gonna happen for a while yet, but as you may have noticed, I keep feeding you little tidbits with which you're welcome to speculate. Hopefully, this will keep the story interesting.


	5. Kicking ass with the best of them

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Summary: **Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough.

**Pairings:** Steve/Catherine, some OCs mixed in for a little (or a lot of) drama, minor Danny/Gaby, Kono/Adam

**Chapter 5: Kicking ass with the best of them**

She was quietly sitting in front of her computer, tapping a pen against her desk, waiting for the program to finish evaluating the data she'd put in. Captain Coulston would have kittens if he found out about this latest misappropriation of military equipment – or any of the other times, actually. The things she did for Steve. They weren't even together anymore and she was still putting her carrier on the line. She loved the man so goddamn much, it wasn't healthy anymore. Their earlier meeting had only proven that. Catherine shivered as the sensations he had evoked in her body came rushing back. The strength of his body, all hot and solid, against hers as he crushed her between himself and the wall,the sound of his ragged breath as their kisses deepened, the feel of his light stubble against her cheek and the taste of his lips, his tongue as it invaded her mouth had left her aching for more. Thinking about it now still made her lower regions throb with need.

They weren't together anymore, but there had been nothing weird about their kiss, no feeling of uncertainty or uneasiness as there had been when she'd kissed Ben. Catherine shook her head. That merely proved her theory that it was a matter of being accustomed to intimacy with Steve. She was insistent on reasoning this one out. She had to believe that that was all there was to it – a matter of habit – because otherwise her new life, the whole little world she'd build for herself out of the fragile, raw pieces left behind by her breakup with Steve would crumble like a house of cards. That thought really made her shiver, and not in a pleasant way. She couldn't go back to being the same broken, empty shell she'd been in the days immediately following their breakup.

"Ma'am?", a voice brought her out of the darkening path of her thoughts. She looked up to find a young Petty Officer standing in the otherwise empty office space, waiting for her. She raised an eyebrow. Her analysis of the data must have taken longer than she thought if everyone was done for the day already.

"Yes, Petty Officer..."

"Derryl, Ma'am," he informed her. He was about a head taller than her and probably almost a decade younger. _Blimey_, Catherine thought as she eyed the SEAL, _they keep getting younger_.

"What can I do for you, Petty Officer Derryl?", she inquired with a smile. They young man seemed rather nervous, shifting on his feet.

"Captain Coulston would like to see you, Ma'am."

"Alright. I'll be there in five," she said slowly, taking a look at her watch.

"I have orders to escort you to him right now, ma'am. He said it was urgent. Something about the task force that's investigating the rape and murder of that poor woman."

"And this can't wait a few seconds? I'm nearly finished here." Okay, that may have come out a little harsher than necessary.

"I've got my orders, ma'am.

_Crap_, was all Catherine could keep thinking. She rubbed fingers over her eyes to focus herself again. This was going to go badly; she could feel it. Why did this have to happen now of all times? Didn't she have enough on her plate at the moment? She nodded for the Petty Officer's sake. She sighed, and typed swiftly on her keyboard. He send her a questioning glance as he couldn't see the computer's screen and, therefore, didn't know what she was doing. She smiled reassuringly at him, before answering.

"I've put it on pause. I guess I can come back to it later. Lead the way."

The Petty Officer shifted uncomfortably. He looked a bit like a southern gentleman to her, so maybe his ingrained chivalry demanded he let her go first, but she waved any concerns away with a swipe of her hand, and motioned for him to get going. Seeing as she insisted, the Petty Officer had no choice but to go ahead. They walked out into the hallway, and he made a turn for the left. She followed him quietly for a few corridors to see where he was going, a frown spreading on her features the farther they got. Eventually she decided to speak up.

"This is not the way to the Captain's office, Petty Officer Derryl," she stated, her tone carrying a light reproach. If he wanted to go on an extended tour of the base, he could go alone. "In fact, we're nearing the storage area."

"The Captain is not in his office, ma'am. He told me he needed to inspect some of the equipment, and could be found in Storage Unit H."

"And that's where you are taking me?", she wondered.

"Yes, ma'am. Just as ordered," Derryl replied with an open smile at her.

"And then what are you going to do?", she asked in return, not the least bit fooled. "Rape and murder me, too?"

Silence descended after that statement. Petty Officer Derryl stared at her in shock, before shaking his head firmly.

"I don't know what you're talking-"

"Cut the crap!", she interrupted him , her tone almost vicious. "I'm with Intelligence, give me some credit, Derryl. Your file was amongst those I was sorting through, and I'm good with info. I remember names and dates and numbers, especially when I've had to manually feed them to the software. You had leave last night, and went out with a couple of other sailors to the bar, behind which the victim was found, to get drunk. You knew about the victim being raped prior to her murder when this information has not been released yet. Plus, you were in the hallway earlier just after Commander McGarrett had asked me to look through all those files. The head of Five-0 and an officer from Intelligence?! Can't have been difficult to put two and two together, and figure out I was investigating you."

"I-"

"And really, the Captain wants to see me right now? It can't even wait a few minutes; I'll believe that. But that he sends a man investigated for murder to fetch me?"

Petty Officer Derryl nodded emphatically.

"I find that hard to believe since it's-", here she looked at her watch, "-past eight pm, and Captain Coulston has dinner with his wife every day – at eight o'clock sharp," she finished, and waited for a reply which never came. Instead she got a little beep on her smartphone. She looked at it, then held it towards him so that he could see the display. "Oh, and earlier, I wasn't putting the program on hold. I was setting it to send the results straight to my mobile and that of Lieutenant Commander McGarrett of the Five-0 task force. And look, it's your name that's popped up. You've got a police record for domestic violence. You ex-girlfriend even got a court order that says you can't come within fifty yards of her."

"That's from my juvenile records. You can't view that without a court order."

"Actually, you were eighteen, therefore it didn't go into juvenile records anymore. Was that the reason you joined the service? To get away from that? Start fresh? Well, that's going to be a bit difficult now that Five-0 has you name. What happened? Couldn't control your violent urges?", she taunted him. Catherine knew she was playing with fire, but if he felt the need to explain himself, that would give Steve time to get here and find them, and if he simply got angry, he might make a mistake that she could use to get out of this situation.

"You're one to talk!", he scoffed at her. Not exactly a reaction she had expected, but she'd take that over him trying to force himself on her and murder her any day. "You said it yourself. I was in that hallway, in front of that door. At first, all I heard was muffled voices, but you were right, I could put two and two together. Then, imagine my surprise when I started hearing groaning and moaning coming from the other side of the door, and later, when I passed your disheveled form in the corridor. What happened? Couldn't control those violent urges?", he paraphrased, mocking her as she glared at him.

"Not that I blame McGarrett," Derryl added. "You're a pretty little thing. All lithe and ripe in all the right places. Wouldn't mind fucking you against the wall." He started advancing on her.

Scoffing, she got back to the matter at hand.

"Well, you'll hardly have time for that. Five-0 will be on its way already," she commented as she fell back into a basic fighting stance. It would be madness to fight something out with a SEAL, but at least she was offering him as little contact surface as possible.

"More's the pity," he whined playfully, then went straight for her throat.

Strangling seemed his preferred course of action, but Catherine was ready. She slammed her hand up into his nose the moment it was within her reach, and shoved him back a few paces with a powerful kick to the stomach. As much as she wanted to kick him in the groin, it wasn't really practical at the moment. He caught himself, cursing her up one side and down the other as he swiped the blood off with his sleeve. He came at her again, feigning left, then punching right. Catherine oofed when his punch pushed the air from her lungs, and staggered backwards. He used her moment of unbalanced staggering to slam her back against the wall, then slap her hard across the face. She could taste blood in her mouth. She went down, and he made to follow her, but Catherine caught herself in time to push him back with both her feet. The shove was forceful enough to shove him away a couple of feet, and, as it hit him directly in the stomach, make him curl around himself.

She hastily got up. When he tried to punch her again – this time in the face – she blocked and sidestepped out of his attack. Turning her block into a grip, she held onto his wrist firmly, and thrust the part of her arm just underneath the cubital joint full force on a point slightly above his elbow only a second later.

It was with a certain amount of satisfaction that she heard the snapping sound, followed by his scream of agony as his arm broke beneath the onslaught, but she was not done with him yet. She twisted his broken arm so that he had to bend downwards, facing the floor. Subsequently, she gave him another shove with her boot to his ass. As soon as he turned around she was on him, her legs going around his upper body, using her body weight to flip him over (1). She punched him once, twice, three times and he was out.

Breathing hard, she got up and fell right back down onto his unconscious body. Her legs weren't cooperating properly and her ribs hurt from where he'd punched her. He must have cracked a few, at least. She used the time she needed to take a few deep breath to get her shoelaces out of her boots. Finally, she rolled him over his good arm with some effort so that she could tie his arms behind his back with them. It probably wouldn't hold him long if he were awake, but it was the best she had at the moment. She spit out a mouthful of blood. Then she grabbed her cell and called first base security, then Five-0.

5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0

When Steve, Danny, and ten minutes later Kono and Chin finally turned up at the scene, military police was already taking a heavily cursing Derryl away under the slightly inattentive eye of a paramedic. Captain Coulston was watching the scene, shaking his head in disbelief. Chin and Danny went with military police to sort out the matter of custody. Kono whistled slightly under her breath at the amount of damage Catherine had done to the guy. She had seen an improvised cast around the men's arm and some serious bleeding down his chin. She was impressed. Steve, meanwhile, could really care less about their rapist/murderer. His eyes were fixated on Catherine, who was standing beside the Captain holding her side in obvious pain as she spoke to him. He made his way there.

"Commander McGarrett, it seems you and your task force missed the action," the Captain greeted him.

"Captain," was all Steve could manage, before his attention was inevitable drawn back to the woman he loved. "What did he do to you?"

Catherine tried to smile at him, but it turned into a grimace when her ribs and her face protested even that tiny movement.

"Related some nasty imagery from his personal fantasies, lots of curses, and, oh yeah, punched me in the chest, and slapped me across the face," she related jokingly, then lowered her voice so only Steve could hear what she said next. "But Steve, I think he was paid for the crime. The program looked for irregularities, and found an extra ten thousand bucks in his account that shouldn't be there. It was wired into the account this morning. You should-"

"Why aren't you in the infirmary?", he interrupted her. Really, he could care less about ten thousand bucks right now. She was hurting, and he needed it to stop. He needed her to be okay.

"Because... I wasn't about to take my eyes off him until MP took him off my hands and out of my sight. 'Sides, I'm probably only bruised."

She didn't sound very convincing. Steve gave her a look.

"Boss is right," Kono agreed. "You need medical attention. You don't look good." Catherine was just opening her mouth to make a smart retort when Kono beat her to it. "But I've seen the other guy. He looked even worse. Nice job."

Catherine grinned right back.

"Yeah, well, this kitten has claws." She answered Kono, but her gaze drifted to Steve, then beyond him. She stepped away from the Captain, not believing her eyes. "Ben? What are you doing here? How did you even get on base?"

She walked towards him slowly, just as the man ran to her. He put both hands on her cheeks as his eyes scanned her for further injuries. He fussed over her for a couple of minutes, and she let him. It felt good to be worried over instead of being the one worried for once. He hugged her loosely, so as not to hurt her side. As he did, she could see Steve staring at them mutely with a sombre expression. Beside him, Kono seemed equally relieved and annoyed. She didn't want to hurt Steve or make this awkward, so she disentangled herself from Ben and looked at him. Then she asked him again, how he got past base security, he smiled softly.

"I didn't, really. They took pity on me when they heard that it was my girlfriend who'd been attacked by one of their own, and called the Captain. He allowed me in just this once; special circumstances, I believe he called it." With that, he nodded gratefully to the Captain. "Come on, you should get that checked out."

"How did you know I was in trouble?", she asked, frowning. "Are you psychic?"

He smirked.

"Maybe when it comes to you," he said, not really answering her question.

With one last, lingering look at Steve, who's turned his back to her, and Kono as she looked between the two of them uncertainly, she let herself get led away towards the infirmary. Once of the paramedics was close on their heel. The medical staff present had indicated that they wanted to do an x-ray of her chest in order to determine whether or not anything was broken. She let them delicately manhandle her out of her uniform and poke the forming bruise, even though it made her wince. The x-ray, fortunately, showed no fractions or cracks. She'd been extremely lucky, but her ribs were bruised and she should take it easy for the next week.

_Typical_, she thought as Ben drove her home. She was back on duty for one day, and had already earned herself a medical leave. All because of her involvement in Steve's case. Not that she blamed him, not really. She could've said no, but she hadn't. Never would, she suspected. God, she loved that man to bits. She looked over at Ben and wondered, not for the first time, if she was leading him on in her hope to leave everything behind. Maybe she should just tell him to forget about her, that she was ruined for anyone else, but then, what would she do?! Not go back to Steve; she couldn't do that. Still, it had hurt more than it should when she didn't see him outside the infirmary as she left. He was busy with the case, she knew, but she still wished he'd been there.

Despite Ben... Because of Ben.

Oh, she wanted to scream as they approached the door to her house. She couldn't get them straight in her head. She loved Steve, but she was with Ben. She cared about Ben, could learn to love him even, but she _wanted_ Steve. Her body's reaction earlier had clearly shown her that but she couldn't have Steve.

"I'm not giving up," Ben's voice reached through her foggy mind.

"Huh?" Had she said any of that out loud?

"I'm not blind, Cathy, nor inexperienced. I know the look you and McGarrett give each other. You still love him," he said with absolute confidence. So much for coddling her.

"I'm sorry," was all she could manage, because this wasn't fair. To either of them. Ben deserved her full attention, and she... didn't she deserve to love again? Her eyes began to tear up, then spilled over. The stress of the entire day suddenly weighed her down, and she didn't know what to do with it, so she just cried. He gently grabbed her chin and lifted it until she had to look at him. His smile was as gentle as his grip.

"I told you: I'm not giving up on you. I want you, Cathy, and I care about you. I won't call it love, not yet, but it's there and it's growing." His hand shifted to cup her cheek. "I want to be a part of your life. I want to be with you. I don't care if I have to wait for you... but if you don't want me, or if you don't care, I will leave you alone."

It was an honest promise. Then, he kissed her. She accepted the kiss openly, trying to forget about the day she'd been having, and the emotional roller-coaster of the past couple of hours. It still felt different, somewhat out of place, but Ben was taking it slowly and he was a good kisser. Her arms wrapped around him loosely as his hands gently held her at her waist. He touched his tongue to her lips, teasing them until she opened her mouth to deepen the kiss.

"Stay," Catherine whispered when they parted for breath, then amended, "Just for a bit, to talk."

Ben nodded and led her over to the padded bench on her front lawn. Just before they sat down, Catherine had an idea. She told him to wait for a moment, then went inside. When she emerged, she was carrying a soft-looking multicolored quilt. She sat down beside Ben, curling herself into him and spread the quilt over them both. She let her head rest against his shoulder, and looked up at the stars.

"I sit here watching the stars whenever I can," she told him. "I watch them from the Enterprise, too. When we're floating in the middle of nowhere with no other lights than those of our ship around, you can see a myriad of stars. Even a few galaxies. You can't see them here; Honolulu is too bright. But this sky is home."

Ben nodded again. "I remember being deployed as JAG on a carrier. After work, I would always find the quietest spot on the ship, and just watch the sky. Sometimes for hours. I know it sounds wimpy, but the clouds crawling across the sky above me, and the stars illuminating the night would always soothe me after a tough case."

She looked at him then. It didn't sound wimpy to her. It sounded like he had needed a break at times. Most sailors in combat units, while they respected her work, didn't understand that it could take as much of a toll on her psyche as their involvement in direct combat could on theirs. They thought she had it easy, being safe on an aircraft carrier, but the truth was that wading her way through a sea of information was exhausting, both mentally and physically. And every time she had one of their teams on the line, requesting emergency evac, her heart started racing, and it was like she was right there with them. Therefore, she wasn't as quick to dismiss that working thefts, insubordination, assaults and murders every day could have the same effect on their lawyers. She thought that she'd never appreciated their work enough.

"So, what made you leave JAG?", she asked, curious.

He sighed and pulled her closer.

"I defended a nice young ensign who'd been accused of planning terrorist actions because he was Muslim, and was facing the death penalty. Naturally, he was terrified. He was the gentlest client I've ever had. The kind who walked old ladies over the street as a hobby."

"You couldn't help him?"

"Oh, no. I got him absolved. It wasn't a strong case. He'd just been praying in a mosque while on leave, and had gotten a bit more than he'd bargained for when the Mullah began a tirade against America. Plus, his comrade's made excellent character witnesses."

"Then...what made you leave?"

"A week later he blew himself up in the mess hall, killing nearly two hundred sailors," Ben said with a bitter smile. "I know I couldn't have known. He played his part perfectly, and I don't exactly feel responsible, but I still carry a lot of guilt over it with me... What I always liked about the Navy was its clearly drawn lines. You knew right from wrong, you knew friend from foe. Now, with this guy, we had an enemy right amongst us. The line was blown away. I handed in my resignation as a consequence."

Catherine swallowed with difficulty. She couldn't imagine what must have gone through Ben's head when he heard the news, or even now as he told her about it. He was a good man, and he was right; the line was mostly clear. Especially in her line of work. The information she gathered was handed over to the good guys, the teams she helped when they called were the good guys. She couldn't imagine what she'd do if someone used the information she'd given them to kill two hundred people. She didn't know how to comfort him, she realized as she looked up into his pained expression, so she cuddled closer and hugged him to her with her head resting in the crook of his neck.

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Grateful for a breath of fresh air, she walked along the beach. The light of the Chinese lanterns hung all over the bar that had illuminated her path so far couldn't reach so far into the darkness, but she could still hear the music and the cheerful exclamations of her friends. They were laughing, drinking and even trying their hands at Hula dancing. She giggled as she saw her buddy Fred get up on stage between the girls – he must be well and truly pissed – and sway his hips awkwardly to match the rhythm. She could hear the cheers and catcalls from the crowd, until a waiter led him off stage. Laughing, she turned around again, taking her pack of cigarettes from her purse, and putting one in her mouth.

She stopped to search her purse more thoroughly when she couldn't immediately find the lighter. Maybe she'd forgotten it at the bar? Then she heard a metallic clicking sound right next to her. Looking up, she saw a man coming around with a lighter the shape of a gun, the small orange flame flickering at the end. She giggled again. Normally, she had no humor for these things – why would anyone want a lighter that could be mistaken for a gun in America – but alcohol always had a loosening effect on her. Suddenly everything amused her.

"Pretty cool, huh?", the man asked as he lit her cigarette. She looked at him more fully. He was a couple of inches taller than her and about the same age., maybe a bit younger, but with his Asian features she couldn't tell very well. In her experience, they always looked younger than they were. He was well built with beautiful pieces of ink going up and down his arms, leaving only his hands free.

"Nice touch," she said, not to be rude. "Looks pretty real."

That's when another, more sinister metallic sound reached her ear, and she suddenly found herself face to face with a gun.

"This one's real," he said smoothly. "You're coming with me."

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Throughout the whole clean-up of the case, Chin could see his boss suffer. His back was too straight, his muscles to tense, and even for a taciturn guy he spoke too little. Chin noticed Steve's eyes shifting down the hallway where he assumed the infirmary was, but when they offered to wrap up without him, he gave a loud, decisive and all-too-quick "NO!" as answer. Afterwards, silence reigned supreme between Five-0 and their boss. Even the MP Officers realized something was wrong, and approached either Danny or him with whatever paperwork needed signing. He would be held in the brig of the Navy base until his Article 32 hearing and then court-martial. Steve would be interrogating the man the man first, though.

Chin almost pitied the guy as he entered the brig with Danny and Kono. Catherine had already done a number on him, and Chin couldn't tell what displeased his boss more: this Ben Foster character in Catherine's life, or the fact that Derryl had tried to hurt her. Either way, Steve's bad mood could be potentially dangerous for the guy. Fortunately, Derryl kept his mouth shut for now. From what the MP said the guy had spouted some nasty things in regards to Catherine and Steve while they'd had him in custody. Made them glad Steve's old SEAL team had not been there to hear. The guy might not have made it out of the brig alive.

"Why'd you do it, Derryl?", the former SEAL asked the other man as Derryl continued to smirk at him. Steve held a picture of their victim to his face, but the Petty Officer remained impassive. "What had the woman ever done to you?"

"Sir, I might be able to answer that," one of the MPs spoke up. He approached Steve, photo in hand. "We found this amongst the things in his locker."

Steve took the picture from the MP, and stopped dead in his tracks. The color visibly drained from his face. Danny, Chin and Kono gathered around him to get a good look at the picture, and winced simultaneously. It was a picture of Catherine, and once the MP advised them to take a look at the back of the photo, they knew the guy was really in trouble. Written on the back in a neat hand were the words 'Someone like her'.

"Who put you up to this?", Steve questioned the man. His voice was like low and cold and deadly calm.

The smirk on the Petty Officer's face merely widened.

"Must suck when your bitch suddenly prefers someone else, eh Commander?" It seemed their luck – and Derryl's brain cells – had just run out. Chin didn't take his eyes of the man, but he could see Steve tense up out of the corner of his eye. "Bet it drives you up the wall that you're left with spoiled goods now, thinking how the other guy screwed her. Then again, I wouldn't care much if she sucked my co-"

Chin quickly slammed one of the MP's batons against the bars of the cell, close to where Derryl had wrapped his hands around them. The sound made him jump back before he started cursing again, though at Chin this time. It didn't stop Steve from getting in the guy's face, though. He grabbed him and pulled him against the bars. Danny tried to reason with him, but none of them had ever seen Steve so angry before. There was something else going on here, they could feel it.

"Who put you up to this? Who told you what to do and who to look for? How to set the scene just right, huh?", Steve pressed forth through clenched teeth, but Derryl only went back to grinning.

"I'm not gonna tell you anything. I want my lawyer," he said slowly, a wide grin on his face.

"Yeah, well the lawyers are coming over from San Diego. I doubt they'll be of much help to you, though," Danny commented, delicately extracting the Petty Officer's shirt from Steve's murderous grip and herding him back a little. They continued to ask him questions, but the only answer they'd get from Derryl was 'Lawyer'. After another twenty minutes of non-responses, Five-0 gave up and left him with military police. JAG officers would arrive here tomorrow, and the Article 32 hearing was already being prepared. There was no doubt that he'd be court-martialed afterward.

Danny turned to Steve.

"Okay, what's going on? What was that about 'setting the scene'?", he asked his partner. Kono and Chin joined them curiously.

"Nothing, Danny-"

"Don't Danny me! And that was not nothing; you grabbed the guy and pulled him against the bars hard enough, he must have had trouble breathing. So, let me ask again, what was that about?!", the Jersey detective burst out, then immediately regretted it when he saw Steve's jaw set in that stubborn way that told him he wasn't getting answers any time soon. The man's reaction had clearly had something to do with Ramboette. Danny was sure something must have happened at some point in their lives that Steve somehow related to this case, so why wasn't he talking?! Tearing through his hair angrily, he decided to change tactics. Maybe a different approach would get SuperSEAL to open up. "You could be a bit happier. He's going to get 20 to life in... uh."

"Leavenworth, probably."

"Yeah, exactly. Once he goes in, he won't come out, so why don't you-"

"Commander!", Captain Coulston's bellowing tone interrupted them. Steve straightened up almost imperceptibly. "I've been meaning to get a word with you. Don't think I missed the Lt.'s admission to helping you by using military equipment."

"Yes, sir. The blame lies solely with me, Captain. I pressed her into helping by emphasizing that you had assured Five-0 the full cooperation of all the personnel under your command," Steve replied at once, having expected this line of questioning.

Captain Coulston snorted. "Lt. Rollins is in Naval Intelligence and a commissioned officer. She should be expected to be smart enough to understand that that doesn't entail misappropriation of military equipment at her disposal."

"I may have also preyed on a previous experience of the Lieutenant, sir."

Five-0's eyebrows rose up. This was intriguing. Maybe they would find out what part of this case made it so personal for Steve, and what he'd been talking about in the brig. SuperSEAL may be stubborn with them, but he'd never risk Catherine's career. If telling the Captain could save her from standing at court-martial along with Derryl, he would tell him.

"How so, Commander?"

Steve shifted uncomfortably.

"Lt. Rollins has been accosted, harassed and mildly sexually assaulted outside a bar in Coronado a couple of years ago, sir. I may have over-stated the similarities between the two cases before reminding her of your promise of cooperation, sir."

The Captain gave him a look.

"That's what my official report will say," Steve added matter-of-factly. "If you would like a copy for another Article 32 hearing, that can be arranged."

The Captain dismissed them with a wave of his hand and an amused snort. As Steve made his way towards the infirmary, however, the officer informed him with a certain glee in his voice that Lt. Rollins had received a medical leave of absence and that her boyfriend had taken her home already. Steve nodded mechanically, but at least they were left with the relief that Catherine wouldn't get in trouble for helping them. Not unless the Captain wanted to implicate himself as well, and the man seemed happy enough to have had the murderer caught.

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The relief got swept away rather swiftly when Steve asked to be dropped in town instead of home. By now it was nearing midnight, and his boss was spotting the same distant look and determined set of jaw that he'd often seen in cops whose marriages had just gone down the drain due to their jobs. He'd come to recognize that look. The expression said clearly that they were planning on drowning their sorrows in alcohol or women. Or both. Chin wouldn't believe it if he didn't see it with his own eyes. It was so out of character for Steve. He had been doing exactly the opposite since the breakup, throwing himself into his work and secluding himself when there was nothing to do. Saturday had been the first time someone had gotten him to come out of his shell, and then only because his SEAL team had wanted to meet Five-0.

He stopped in front of the club Steve had indicated.

"Steve-"

Steve halted, but didn't look at him when he spoke.

"Look what happened today. She'll never be safe with me, brah."

Without another look, Steve was out of the car and disappeared into the club.

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The next morning they found the first body.

**End of chapter 5!**

**A/N: **Okay, some of you might be disappointed that Steve couldn't come to her rescue, but since 3x11 we know that Catherine can kick ass, and I rather like that she's not all brains or a damsel in distress who needs Steve to save her.

Until the next chapter, there will have been a little fast forward of about half a year as we're getting closer to the source of all trouble. Just to give you fair warning.

**(1)** Like what Steve did to Hess when they were fighting over the remote control for the bomb around Chin's neck.


	6. Holding on and letting go Pt 1

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Summary: **Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough.

**Pairings:** Steve/Catherine, some OCs mixed in for a little (or a lot of) drama, minor Danny/Gabby, Kono/Adam

**Chapter 6: Holding on an letting go – Part 1**

The next six months dragged along for the governor's task force as they wrapped up the rape and murder case. Eventually, they went on to solve the next crime, without properly putting the Navy case to rest. The money trail led them half-way across the world, bouncing back and forth until it got lost in the system. They interrogated Petty Officer Derryl again, but the guy wouldn't talk. The writing on the back of Catherine's picture didn't match the SEAL's, but they couldn't identify where it had come from either. Fortunately, the evidence was stacked against the Petty Officer anyway, so the case went to court-martial and the SEAL straight to Leavenworth.

The case didn't seem to be completely over, though, as several women had been found dead in the following half a year. Their resemblance to Catherine was striking with some, but with others practically non-existent. This potentially teasing note to the murders – if they were indeed related to Five-0 and Catherine – made the team tense. If the murders were connected to their team's plus one, they were certainly an elaborate mind game, and a sick one at that. Unfortunately, due to nearly half of the women having nothing in common with the woman apparently represented in the other victims, doubt always remained. Every time Five-0 were called to another case, their boss would call Catherine to make sure it wasn't her body waiting for them. So far, nothing of the sort had happened; there hadn't even been a threat to Catherine's life except for the murders themselves.

On the upside – or the downside, Danny couldn't quite decide yet – Five-0 had been handed access, within reason, to Naval Intelligence equipment. The Navy had taken a rather hard hit when one of their poster boys was tried and convicted of raping and killing an innocent woman. Because of the quick success of their cooperation, Captain Coulston had suggested that Catherine were assigned the additional duty of acting as a liaison officer, and supplying the governor's task force with information when required. A way to better the damaged image of the force in the public eye. Danny was sure it was the Captain's way of revenge for putting him between a rock and a hard place with the whole misappropriation-of-military-equipment thing. When asked, Coulston had simply told him that they – and here Danny inferred Steve and Catherine – deserved each other. Only, it wasn't quite clear if the Captain meant them working it out and getting back together or continuously treading on eggshells around each other for fear of ending up even more hurt.

Afterwards they'd mostly had to deal with Five-0's typical case load and type, which was good, because for a while there, their boss' life had taken a turn for the worse. Not to say that he'd come to work hungover or had taken a string of lovers, but he'd certainly socialized a lot more than he ever had before while, at the same time, looking about as misplaced and distanced as you could get. That lasted until he'd come across a woman who wouldn't let his rough exterior and grumpiness chase her away. Her name was Valerie; she worked with the governor's staff. Sometimes Danny wondered if that was not a bad omen, but she was witty and vibrant, and so much the opposite of everything Catherine was that the team thought maybe she could heal him. If only he'd let her. But Steve being Steve insisted that they were just friends, and Danny couldn't really find anything untrue about that. They hung out with the team, they went to lunch not dinner, they chatted a bit during work, but they never went out, they never dated, and with all the times Danny burst into Steve's house unannounced, he'd know if Valerie had ever spent the night. She had not. Their thing, whatever it was, was completely platonic. Which had Danny wonder if Catherine knew that, but that was on an entirely different page.

Slowly, Steve and Catherine had established a delicate professional friendship that allowed them to look each other in the eye at times when Catherine had to come over and fill them in on new Intel personally. They had even managed to go to out and have drinks with the team and their significant others, though they still did much of the eggshell-walking on those occasions; avoiding eye-contact, barely talking to one another directly and absolutely no mentioning of their respective love lives. At least not from them. Valerie seemed to be somewhat unaware of the tension as she only knew them after they'd worked some kinks out for the sake of the job, and nobody on the team had seen it fit to step into that hornet's nest of their own accord, though Danny repeatedly told Steve that he should talk to her.

Steve was a little reluctant in regards, because Valerie and Catherine had gotten along well enough the few times they'd met, and he didn't really want to create additional tension where it wasn't necessary. He had told Valerie that he had just recently gotten out of a relationship, and that he was still working on getting over it; he just hadn't mentioned names or pointed his finger at Catherine in an obvious way. It was hard enough for him to deal with Catherine's presence at HQ sometimes. He knew his team was slightly suspicious and plenty concerned when they met in his office to discuss Intel instead of the main area, but that was only for when she gave him updates on the Derryl case.

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Ben was very inventive. In the six months she'd known him, he must have come up with nearly a dozen totally different dates. They'd gone hiking in the jungle and swam in a lagoon, he'd invited her to the theater and even taken her skydiving with him, a romantic picnic ready for them once they'd landed. She remembered one memorable date when he'd spoiled her with homemade food in his own apartment. She always felt cherished. Of course they'd done the classical dinner and a movie a couple of times, but Catherine couldn't remember ever being taken to breakfast at a local restaurant with pancakes and exotic fruits, maple syrup, croissants, jam, yogurt, coffee and juice.

"This is amazing," she said as she munched carefully on another strawberry, closing her eyes to enjoy the sweetness of the fruit. It certainly took her mind of some more unpleasant things. She'd barely ventured off base recently. "Thank you, Ben."

"You deserve it," he told her as he gazed at her with his intense dark eyes.

They'd been done with the larger part of their breakfast for a while now, but Catherine couldn't help reaching for a fruit between coffee and their easily flowing conversation. Navy food wasn't as bad as it's reputation, because a malnourished and therefore unhappy crew wouldn't be efficient, but it certainly couldn't come close to this. The most exotic fruit they had were the occasional bananas. Only his studying gaze disconcerted her. He seemed to be gauging her as if trying to decide how she would react to news. She wondered if he had to go on a business trip, and if he was prepping her to tell the news. She was stationed in Pearl for the foreseeable future, but having been deployed on a carrier for years she would have completely understood the need to leave on business for a while. So maybe it was something else, but something was up. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

_His gaze is so tender_, she thought, reaching out to put her hand over his on the table. He looked at her hand for a second, then turned his so he could grasp it. He put his other hand over their joined ones, caressing the back of her hand. She inhaled softly. His fingers weren't soft nor calloused., and they felt good against her skin. She watched him lean forward to kiss her hand. His light stubble tickling her skin had her giggle. Ben smirked at her. She knew he liked that sound for how feminine it was. He loved that she was in the Navy; it was something they'd bonded over. Now he loved it even more if he could evoke very un-Navy like sounds from her. Like giggling. She'd never giggle in uniform.

He kissed her hand again, but this time she was prepared for the sensations and only smiled at him mischievously. He grinned right back. Turning her hand around, he gave her one last kiss on her pulse point before releasing her. The feel of his lips and stubble on the sensitive spot made her gasp lightly. With a self-satisfied smirk, Ben leaned back to take a sip of his coffee, and Catherine took another bite at a slice of orange, sucking in the sweet juice from where she'd bitten the fruit, while looking straight at him.

"Oh, you fight dirty, Lieutenant," Ben commented after nearly choking on his coffee.

It was her turn to smirk at him as she popped the rest of the slice into her mouth. This time she closed her eyes and moaned exaggeratedly but quietly at the taste. There was no need to give the few other guests at the restaurant a heart attack. She opened her eyes when she heard Ben's phone ringing suddenly. He should have it switched off when they were together, but he'd told her he was expecting an important phone call and asked her to forgive him. With an apologetic look, he pulled out his phone and answered after seeing her nod.

"I'm sorry I've got to take this," he said softly once he saw the caller ID and got up. "I'll make it as short as possible... Foster?"

Catherine sighed. She seemed bound to be with men who might have to take a call and leave at a moment's notice. The phone calls he received at any and every hour had become a bit of a nuisance. Being with an attorney she'd hoped to have the certainty of fixed working hours, so that she may have to cancel, but could rearrange according to times she knew he would be available. Apparently, lawyers were never off duty either. The calls also often left him angry and detached from everything; sometimes he would go into work after a surprise phone call late at night, or simply ignore her for hours while he brooded.

Then she shook her head. She would not think about that now. Also, she wasn't really different. If the base called, she would be up and out of here in less than a minute. Snippets of Ben's conversation flew to her ears. He was ensuring the person at the other end of the phone that things were running smoothly, and they could expect results soon. He seemed concerned; his voice was firm and more serious than she'd ever heard it when he spoke to his colleagues at the law firm. Now she wondered if he was in trouble with his boss, and if it had been that what he'd been gauging her reaction to tell her. As she mused this, she suddenly felt a hand grasp her shoulder and nearly flipped the guy that hand belonged to over her shoulder and onto the nicely set table. She was still a bit twitchy after the Derryl thing.

"No, don't go all ninja on me, please. I come in peace," Danny's humorously concerned voice drifted to her ear after her hand had already settled firmly on his in preparation to strike.

She exhaled a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.

"Don't sneak up on me, Danny. Next time you might already be in need of a hospital bed when I realize it's you," she managed to answer between clenched teeth. Then she noticed he wasn't alone. "Hi. Gabby. What are you guys doing here?"

"Probably the same as you. It's a great spot for a romantic breakfast," she laughed softly. "Danny said you had a romantic streak buried under all the Navy bits that made you 'almost human'. He called you 'well-balanced', I believe."

The Navy officer blushed a bit. Gabby seemed sincere. Danny's opinion meant a lot to her, she suddenly realized, and she was glad that it was still good after... everything. She returned the compliment gladly. While they'd still been together, Steve had told her happily that his partner might have finally found someone who made him happy, and that he was getting over what happened with his ex-wife. They chatted for a minute about work; Catherine found the other woman's work fascinating.

"Yeah, well, if you can't do anything else, become an academic," Gabby joked good-naturedly.

"You think you're a geek?", Catherine asked. "Well, you're in good company; I deal with computers and software the entire day."

The women smiled at each other.

"We should get to our table, before they give it to someone else," Danny reminded his girlfriend, not quite sure if their bonding was a good thing or a really, really bad one.

"Alright, but we should get together sometime," Gabby acquiesced. "Maybe with Kono. A girls' night out."

"Absolutely," Catherine agreed readily.

"Or maybe we could do a double date," Ben's voice cut in as he came back from his phone call. He was back to his jovial self, but something in his eyes made Catherine think that the matter was more serious than he'd like to let on. She really hoped he wasn't in any trouble. She didn't want him to give up or lose another job he loved, and at which he excelled. Then his words registered in her mind, and her blood froze for a second. Sure, she liked Gabby and Danny and she liked them together, but a double date would be beyond awkward. Then again, they had managed a couple of outings with the team without anything getting blown up, yelling matches or fights, and only a slight amount of underlying (strong) discomfort. And double dates were something that friends did, right?

"Yeah, I... Why not, I suppose," she agreed more hesitantly. There was an awkward silence for a moment as everyone looked at each other. Ben grasped her hand again and squeezed slightly, encouraging her.

"Yeah, I mean... we can work something out," Gabby said carefully with a look at Danny. The detective in question nodded, too, after a second of contemplation. It felt a bit like betrayal, but he pushed that feeling down harshly in an instant. Maybe this was exactly what they all needed. A chance to get comfortably with the new arrangement, so to speak, even though they hadn't quite managed in the preceding half a year.

"Okay, we'll let you get back to breakfast," Danny said, a tentative smile on his features as they parted ways.

Catherine watched them till they sat down at their table. Danny pulled out the chair for his lady love. It was such a cute thing to witness. When she turned around, Ben was back to gazing at her intently. There was something hard in his gaze that had not been there before the phone call, but his hand was still gentle over hers. He squeezed it again, before starting to rub soft circles over the back of her hand. When the waiter came to take the trays away, he asked for two glasses of champagne without ever breaking eye contact with her.

"Isn't it a little early for drinking? You do realize I'll have to got to work later," she reminded him with a raised eyebrow when she heard him order the bubbly beverage. "I doubt my superiors would approve of drinking this early in the day, even if it's only champagne."

"I promise it'll only be one glass," he said with a soft smile. "We've been dating for half a year today, and I won't be able to take you to wine and dine you like you deserve this evening, because I have to be at an office party. So, I'm gonna bring the celebration forward a bit. Please bear with me."

He continued to smile at her imploringly.

"How could I resist such a face?", she asked jokingly as the waiter deposited to glasses in front of them. They toasted, glasses chiming as they touched, and Catherine noticed for the first time that champagne wasn't the only thing in her glass.

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"If you're not comfortable with eating here, we can go somewhere else," Gabby suggested quietly as Danny led her to their table, a hand on her lower back. He remained silent, but pulled out her chair for her. She took that as his decision to stay, and sat down. She still expected an answer from him, though, as he seated himself opposite from her. He ordered some coffee for them both when the waiter brought the breakfast menus, and sent the man on his way, so Gabby tried again tentatively. "Danny?"

"No, it's okay, it's just...", the detective started, but then quickly shook his head. "No, it's good that they seem to be moving on. Catherine seems happy – all is peachy."

Gabby raised an eyebrow.

"Peachy?", she asked.

"Well, good, satisfactory; I don't think any word really fits, because..." Danny sighed. "I have always thought of Ramboette as Steve's girl, even if he continuously upheld that she was not his girlfriend."

"Now it seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but there's something else going on," Danny conceded. "Something about their breakup has rubbed me the wrong way all the time. It's clear that they still have feelings for each other, and when they broke up it was clear that they bloody well loved each other. The timing was off. They'd been in bliss prior to the breakup itself, then suddenly: wham! It's over. It doesn't add up!"

"Your detective senses tingling?", Gabby asked, amused, and earned herself a crooked grin. She suggested he follow his instincts and investigate the matter, but Danny waved the conversation away. He'd not invited her to breakfast in a restaurant to talk about his partner's problematic love life. Gabby smiled at him mischievously. "What else do you want to talk about?"

"Us," Danny declared boldly and completely in contrast with his sudden fidgeting. She leaned forward, still smiling, and grasped his hand. They intertwined. His fingers were calloused from handling his gun, but hers were soft. Her nails scratched playfully over his skin, tickling a little laugh out of his serious face. He finally stopped fidgeting. Danny cleared his throat carefully before continuing. "We've been together for quite a while now, and we're really close, and Grace loves you; she thinks you're really cool, and things have been going well – or at least I think they have; I don't know, you may have a different-"

"Things have been great," she emphasized when he started to go off into one of his rambles.

He gave her a goofy smile when he heard that. They were briefly interrupted by the waiter bringing their coffee and asking for their orders. Danny, Gabby had realized early on, was a sweet tooth, so he ordered pancakes with copious (ridiculous) amounts of chocolate sauce and some extra sauce on the side. She typically preferred a hearty meal and ordered scrambled eggs with bacon and hash browns, but she was distracted enough by the serious look that had been on Danny's face earlier that the waiter had to check twice. Apparently she'd rushed through her order and made it unintelligible. Danny's goofy smiled turned to one of such male pride that she felt the need to slap his arm with her free hand, but she was smiling herself as she did it. That only made his grin turned wider.

"Okay, before I start rambling again, though I know you think it's cute, I'll just come out and say it," Danny announced once the waiter had left, took a deep breath and tightened his hold on her hand as if he were holding on for dear life. "I would like to take the next step and... live together."

Gabby's heart stopped, only to start up again at twice the normal rate. His hand was still holding hers in a death grip, only now she was squeezing right back as she contemplated this big step forward. There had always been a certain caution in Danny, which birthed from having a child to care for. Now that he had a certain amount of assurance that Grace wouldn't be taken from him at a whim, he didn't want to put his life on hold anymore. He wanted to go on, with Gabby who was smiling and crying, and he smiled right back.

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_(That evening)_

Steve's face was in his hands as he listened to Catherine. There had to be something they were missing. He knew there had to be. Even without taking into account the photo and the mystery man's handwriting over its back, the scene was too perfectly set to be a coincidence. Neither of them believed in coincidence anyway. They'd relayed their suspicions to the JAG, but without any direct connection between the money and the crime, all they could prove was that there was some illicit activity on the Petty Officer's bank account. As a consequence, JAG had seen it fit not to mention his and Catherine's déjà-vu.

"I don't get it," he complained, leaning back heavily into his chair. "There has to be a connection to Wo Fat. Who else would have the resources to find out about Coronado, the motivation to even dig that deep into my past, and any interest into recreating it?"

Catherine sighed as she stood in front of him, and shook her head.

"I don't know what to tell you, Steve," she answered, just as frustrated. "I keep digging and digging, but I can't find the origin of the bloody money, or maybe I should say blood money. As for Wo Fat; I have gone through every contact of mine in every Intelligence and law-enforcement agency I could think of. The man has disappeared."

She went over to him, and opened a file for him to read.

"There are rumors that place him in Bangkok, Hong Kong and Riad, but no physical evidence that he ever left Oahu after he escaped from prison. I've run the tapes from the airport from up to eight weeks after his breakout through facial recognition software. Then I did the same with the tapes from the harbor. If he was on one of the planes or ships that left within two months after his escape, he must have had a complete facial reconstruction."

"So, you're saying that he could be half-way around the world or..."

"Or living right down the street from your house, yeah."

Steve smirked slightly.

"I'll be sure to put up surveillance on my neighbors, then," he joked, trying to lighten the mood. She was obviously ready to admit defeat as she sank against his desk as if her legs wouldn't hold her up on their own anymore. The setting sun illuminated her face, and turned her hair into a dark halo. Steve got out of his chair, rounded the desk and gently laid his hand over hers. He squeezed softly when her eyes snapped up to his. "Hey, you did good, Cath. We'll find him eventually, and then we'll get answers. Nothing will happen to you. Just..."

"Be careful, I know," she muttered. "Steve, I've been careful for months, and nothing has happened. We can't even be sure if Wo Fat is arranging for all of this, but it might be my fault, and people, innocent people are dying. And it's all my fault, because I can't find the son of a bitch! Why can't I locate him?!"

"You will," Steve said, and squeezed her hand strongly. Her frustration was clear in her voice. She was flushed and he could see a single angry tear slide down her face. More were bound to come if they couldn't put a stop to this. Her failure to locate Wo Fat was clearly distressing her, and adding to that the imminent sense of danger due to the murders of the past months. Thus far a woman had turned up dead every months, brutally beaten to death. Four of them resembled Catherine close enough to be her sisters; they were nearly the same age as her, too. They were young, and she and Steve were sure they had died, because Wo Fat wanted to play with Steve, wanted their deaths to torment him. Catherine's pain was only a side effect, but likely a welcome one as it caused him more emotional distress. He could detach himself from the victims, though he felt like a guilty party in their deaths, but he could distance himself from Catherine and how much she suffered no more than he could cut out his own heart. Her fists were clenched, knuckles white, against her legs. Another tear escaped her. He reached out with his free hand to wipe it away, rubbing soft circles over the hand in his grasp in the meantime.

She smiled, both grateful and nervous, then pulled her hand slowly out from under his, picked up the file from his desk and moved over to the window looking out as if to check that nobody on Honolulu's busy streets had seen them. The action pulled at his heartstrings, even after nearly seven months. The fact that she couldn't be close to him, couldn't stand to have him physically touch her, even as a friend, made him ache anew. She was right to pull way, though. It was their closeness that made these women targets. It was hardly appropriate to enjoy each others' closeness when people had to suffer and die for it. He was going to get Wo Fat for what the monster had put those women through, for what his team and Catherine had had to endure. The mental strain of this case was wearing them down further from the relatively low place they'd started out at when the murders begun.

He could see on her face that she was equally pained by the loss of contact. They could feel their skin tingling from where they had touched. It was times like these when Steve couldn't decide whether moving on was a good thing or a bad one. The pain lessened, only to come back ever more intensely in these odd, sporadic moments when the world seemed to fall away and it was just them. Now the golden rays made her whole body glow, even in her plain service khakis.

"First night you were at my house, I dreamt about a future with you," he blurted out without thinking, trying to distract her. Her back turned ramrod straight. He could tell she had not been expecting this, and her hand flew to her chest in response where it fingered with a button of her service khakis. He could hear her whisper his name, and decided that he might as well finish that thought as it was out there now anyway. "I went to sleep with my arm around you, and dreamt of waking up with my hand on your swollen stomach. You were so beautiful I just kept staring at you while you slept until I noticed the little boy at the foot of our bed as he climbed up into it. He had your eyes."

He's kept his head down while relating his dream, but looked up now to see her half-turned towards him. Her eyes were closed and her expression was something between longing and despair. Her hands had moved to her stomach as if searching for a child that wasn't there, perhaps thinking of what they'd lost. He remained quiet while she was caught up in his dream, only continued to watch her face with his blue eyes. When she finally opened her brown ones, she looked right at him. The world fell away again.

"I've had that dream, too, a while ago," she admitted in a whispered breath. "It was while you were on a mission. In my dream, we were living on base in Coronado. You came home from a mission just as I was setting the dinner table. You had a cut just above your left eye, and another on on your lower lip, but you were alive and you smiled at me. You came to greet me, but you didn't get very far before you suffered a full frontal assault from two little girls yelling 'Daddy!'. You'd pick the younger one up, saunter over to me like a peacock and kiss me to the disgusted noises of our daughters."

She was gripping the file so tightly by now, he thought it would rip apart.

"When you came to my apartment that night with a cut over your left eye and a split lip and asked me to kiss them better, it was like an omen," she told him. He remembered that night. He'd been on a particularly long mission that had gone surprisingly well. No casualties on their side and only a few mild bruises. Still, he'd been so glad to be back in Coronado that he hadn't taken into account that it was past three am, and gone straight to her place. Seeing her answer in a tank top and the shortest shorts he had ever seen, had seemed like a great bonus at the time. He'd ascribed her distractedness to the late hour, but her admission put things into a new perspective.

He'd inadvertently taken a couple of steps towards her. Her voice took him back to the present.

"Now it's all gone," she added as an afterthought. "Staying apart is starting to hurt more than being together did at times."

"Cath..."

"You should be having this conversation with Valerie, not me," she added as an afterthought, and he thought he could detect a note of longing in her tone. He and Valerie were only friends, but Catherine had assumed from day one that there was more between them – as had everyone else. And he didn't have it in him to tell her the truth. She might pity him for being so unable to move on, or she might cling onto hope when she really should be running the other way from him. "We keep doing this. We keep hurting each other with wishes and could-have-beens when we should be moving on."

"You mean I keep doing this," Steve sighed, knowing that he was the one who dragged it up over and over again. He just couldn't seem to let their past relationship rest in peace. Catherine shook her head at him slowly.

"You're just the catalyst. It wouldn't hurt so much if what you said didn't mean everything to me. If I didn't wish for that, too. It wouldn't matter if I didn't want to be with you."

"Cath..." Steve could only whisper her name. What she had said was everything he hoped for, yet it was breaking his heart, too. Her voice spoke of the rejection she still felt over what had transpired between them, and he wanted nothing more than to soothe her pain. He wanted to be that person that she turned to when she was hurting, always. Maybe they had been going about it all in the wrong way, maybe they could still work it out, but Catherine's shoulders were slumped in quiet surrender.

"I know, I know... As long as Wo Fat is out there, he wouldn't stop till he got to you, through me. I remember all your reasons for wanting me away." The tired tone in which she said it, put another weight to his heart. She put the file back down, telling him to read the high lightened passages carefully, and made a beeline for the door. Just a few steps within leaving his office, she turned around once more, a serious sad look on her face. "You're so worried that Wo Fat will use me to hurt you, and that your hunt for him will come between us..."

Steve nodded slowly, indicating she should go on.

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe he already has?"

**End of chapter 6!**

**A/N**: Duh duh duh dunn! Okay, a little over-dramatic perhaps, but I thought it appropriate. There's more to this chapter, but I put it in an extra chapter because it was growing into a lengthy monstrosity. Hope you don't mind.

'Holding on and letting go' focuses more on internal, i.e. emotional struggles of the team, but we'll get into the murder spree.


	7. Holding on and letting go Pt 2

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Summary: **Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough.

**Pairings:** Steve/Catherine, some OCs mixed in for a little (or a lot of) drama, minor Danny/Gabby, Kono/Adam

**Chapter 7: Holding on and letting go – Part 2**

The other members of the Five-0 task force were watching their exchange carefully from the other side of the office's glass walls while ineffectually pretending to be busy doing something else. Danny was filling out paperwork as Chin and Kono went through some footage Catherine had brought over one more time to see if they'd missed anything. They couldn't hear what was being said, but it was clear that nothing promising had turned up. They understood their boss' interest in further pursuing the Derryl case, especially if there was a chance it might lead to Wo Fat, but they also recognized that the lack of clear evidence turning up in the last six months likely meant that nothing could be found. Wo Fat was too good at covering his tracks.

Maybe it was because she was in a complicated relationship, too, but Kono was quick to notice the change in moods going on in the office when Steve grasped Catherine's hand tightly, and she subsequently, hesitantly removed it from his hold. There weren't many touches between them these days as if they couldn't stand to touch or feared needing more if they did. Kono had seen them communicate just by looking at each other, and sometimes, just sometimes, those looks lingered moments longer than was necessary. Kono could see the change in their gazes, better in Steve's because it was the way Adam always looked at her. A look that made her feel warm and protected and cared for. Maybe they were healing, but it was very much a work-in-progress.

Catherine moved to the window and, for a moment, Kono could see her as if from Steve's perspective. Like a bright, dangerous angel that you couldn't help looking at, even if you knew it would get you into a world of trouble. These two had fit together perfectly until stupidity and circumstances had ripped them apart and left them damaged. Now they couldn't seem to fit themselves around each other again. She didn't know why they'd broken up, no one did. Steve wouldn't talk about it, so the only indication they had was what he'd said to Chin after the Derryl case. When her cousin had relayed it to Danny and her, it had nearly broken her heart. Steve was willing to sacrifice his entire world, just to keep it safe.

It was good that he'd met Valerie, though Kono couldn't shake the feeling that his wounds would never heal completely. Valerie gave him a new perspective, a possible future without hurting so badly. She had managed to get him to let her in far enough that she could help him heal. Her presence made him smile, and he clearly cared about her. Kono wouldn't call it love, not yet, but they might still go that way if Steve would just let things take their own course. He was getting better. At least it looked like he was most of the time. So why was something in Kono rebelling against it.

Another look at her boss and his ex told her. _That's why_, she thought as she watched them again. He'd stepped closer to her, close enough to also bask in the reddish-golden light, and for that moment they looked like a match made in heaven. She wondered if Adam and her looked like that, a smile on her face, when a voice brought her out of her reverie. She looked up to see Valerie waving at her.

"Hey, Kono, the governor sent me to get the report on the last case."

"Uh, yeah. Steve has it. He'll be with you in a moment. Catherine is debriefing him on some Intel at the moment," Kono replied with a vague gesture towards the office. Valerie followed her indication, and saw Catherine put down a file on Steve's desk.

"Seems like they're almost done," she commented, then shifted her weight with a nervous air. Kono wasn't sure what to make of that. She had a bad feeling, though. "Listen, about... the ex..."

Kono could feel the blood rushing from her face. She darted a glance over at the office, where Catherine had just stopped in front of the door, then looked back at Valerie instantly. Where was Steve when she needed him to handle his not-girlfriend/female companion thing.

"I normally wouldn't ask you about this. I know Steve will tell me when he's ready."

_Yeah, right_, Kono had to suppress the snort rising in her throat, _that is still a long time coming_.

"It's just... I just want to know... Are we alike?"

Oh. Kono took a moment to take in Valerie's golden locks and hazel eyes set in the soft features of her face, her unmarked pale skin, the long fingernails that screamed desk job. Then she thought about her vibrant and decisively gender-conform nature, and shook her head slowly.

"No, you're nothing like her," she finally said, and both women released a sigh they hadn't known they'd been holding. A series of quiet footsteps announced that Catherine was on her way out. She waved as she passed them, but didn't smile or stop to chat. Whatever had been discussed, had apparently distressed her greatly. Seeing Valerie probably didn't help much, either. Catherine's first reaction to Steve apparently going out with someone else hadn't been much different than his reaction to seeing her with Foster. Drastic paling, clenched hands and a sudden desire to be anywhere else. She and Kono had been sparring, then grabbed a shower and decided to go out for dinner and drinks, and well...

Kono was really starting to hate that sea-side restaurant. She hadn't told Catherine that Steve and Valerie were just good friends – with the occasional peck – partially because she didn't know if that would make her friend's life easier or harder, and partially because she didn't really know what to think as they were all sort of hovering around each other, including Ben.

"Oh, good. Thank you," she replied, relieved. "I better go see him now."

She walked over to the office. Steve was still standing where Catherine had left him, shell-shocked by her admission, or perhaps accusation. She wasn't wrong, of course, but it could have gone without saying. For a moment he wondered if she'd deliberately tried to hurt him, but dismissed the idea quickly. No matter how angry she may be at him, she wouldn't stoop so low.

The clicking sound of heels alerted him to another presence. Waking up from his stupor, he saw Valerie knocking on his door from the inside. An concerned look was on her face as she came in. He wasn't one for public displays of affection, at least not at work, but he was grateful when she put a hand on his arm in a comforting gesture.

"Bad news or still no news?", she asked with an encouraging smile.

"Same thing, really," he answered tiredly. "Cath just can't trace back the money. She's been at it for months, and she is one of the best in the trade."

Her hand wandered to his cheek, and suddenly he couldn't look at her. She'd been so patient with him. She gave him space where he needed it, and was there for him at all other times showing him how much she cared, and here he was just after discussion the possibility of children with another woman. A woman Valerie thought was only a co-worker and good friend. Danny was right; he had to tell her. Before he could open his mouth, she kissed him softly. It was merely a press of lips on lips, but it carried the weight of her emotions.

"You'll find him. He can't hide forever," she told him confidently as she stepped back. "I'm assuming with the new Intel, our dinner plans get switched around?"

Her tone wasn't accusatory, but rather playful. Without thinking about it, Steve stepped forward and embraced her and let the guilt wash over him. He felt guilty for the way he treated her. They weren't exactly together in the strict sense of the word, nor dating, but she was there for him and he could see that she could be good for him. He thought she might want more, but they both knew that friendship was all he could ever offer. She gave him the occasional kiss, but it was nothing serious and mostly for the team, so that they could at least believe he was moving on. Talking to her was easy, even about Catherine, though he never mentioned her name or gave a description of her. Being around Valerie didn't hurt, and the ache he did carry with him wherever he went was soothed through being with her. Seeing Catherine always pained him, but the ache didn't cripple him anymore. Valerie brought life back into his being, and yet here he was, hugging her just after such an intimate discussion with his ex.

_Is she, though_, Steve wondered silently as Valerie's vanilla scent engulfed him. _Did I ever really let Catherine go? Could I?_

When they pulled back, and he pecked her lips again, Steve could have sworn he saw a silent tear in the corner of her eye. Sometimes, when he was with her, he was only halfway there. He knew she could always tell. He knew it wasn't fair, and he always felt horrible afterwards. There were times he just couldn't stop thinking about times past. About what could have been. And he knew she could tell that, too. As she grabbed the report she'd come for, he asked himself why she put up with him. And how long she would be willing to do so anymore.

She deserved better in a friend.

5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0

Kono had been distracted all evening. At first, Adam had simply thanked the spirits that she wouldn't rise to Michael's quips. He could that his little brother liked getting a rise out of her, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that he wasn't as cool with Kono being a cop as he'd first claimed, but Adam was willing to chalk it up to his recent experience of an American penitentiary. Then he started to recognize the look on Kono's face. She was worried about something that happened at work.

Adam could guess what. Her boss was like a brother in her mind, and she hated seeing him in pain. Something that had happened so frequently recently, it had put a strain on their relationship as well. She'd promised him not to interfere with McGarrett's love live – or lack thereof – and he'd been glad when she'd told him about a new relationship on the horizon. Kono remained undecided, however, on whether this was a good thing or a bad one, but she'd thus far kept her promise and kept her distance.

He could hardly blame her for being preoccupied. Even he couldn't deny that the recent murder spree seemed to fit right up in Wo Fat's alley. He'd run down his own contacts, but couldn't find anything on the man who'd murdered his father. He didn't intend to torture and murder him anymore, though he still thought that prison was too easy for Wo Fat, but he wanted the man caught, not walking around the island a free man.

After a brooding dinner, his brother decided to go out. His brother had been surprisingly quiet throughout dinner as well. Short of the occasional quip at Kono's job, the younger Noshimuri had been lost in his own thoughts. Adam was a little worried at his brother's lack of interest in the company. He'd invited Michael to come along with him and find a place in the the family business again several times, but his brother had always declined. He'd said he wanted to enjoy his new freedom for a while, before tying his time down in work, and Adam had respected that, but it made him worry when his little brother was so obviously contemplating something important.

"At this hour?", Adam questioned Michael's plans, worried.

"Relax, brother, I'm just going out to grab a beer, maybe play some pool; you know, having a good time," Michael said, holding up his hands to appease Adam. "Besides, it's either that or sticking around while you watch your movie and have a good time for yourselves. I'd rather go out."

Adam wasn't done flushing when Michael had already winked at him and Kono and left in a hurry through the door. He told himself to stop questioning his little brother and settled down with her on the couch with her, sighing. All evening he'd been resolute about not discussion her boos with her, but it had become apparent that she couldn't focus. That had him worried as well as in a foul mood.

"You're distracted. What's wrong?"

She looked up at him apologetically.

"Valerie asked me if she resembled Catherine today."

"He finally told her about Catherine, then?" Adam didn't quite believe it.

Kono shook her head.

"No, Valerie had no idea that she was talking about Catherine." Then she sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you must be sick of this by now. I'm sick of it, I just can't... Danny has announced earlier that he and Gabby will move in together, and we'd be great if it weren't for my constant worry." She could acknowledge that, and it made Adam smile, amused. "It just seems like they're settling, you know. Like they're not really happy."

"Are you?" It suddenly occurred to him that she may not be. Kono turned to look at him fully, and her bewildered expression was answer enough to make the sudden weight around his heart almost go away. A nagging doubt remained. Why else would she be so preoccupied with someone else's unhappiness unless she could see herself in them? He reached out, and gently touched her cheek, caressing her smooth skin with his thumb. "I can't help but wonder... Did I do something wrong? Have I made you upset in some way? Is that why you..."

She grabbed his hand and kissed him. It was sweet and too short for either of their liking. As they leaned away from each other again, Kono was shaking her head, a solitary tear falling from her eye and onto his fingers. She moved his hand on her face slightly downward so that it covered her mouth and she could kiss it repeatedly. She shook her head again.

"I am happy. I'm never as happy as when I'm with you," she confessed.

"Then why...?" He couldn't finish the question. He didn't know how to ask.

"Because he looks at her like you look at me. When you do, I feel loved, even when you couldn't say the words."

He looked at her, just looked as the seconds ticked by and her meaning sank in. This time, he leaned forward to kiss her.

5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0

The clock was ticking away close to midnight and Steve was still at the office. The others had long since left, bidding him goodnight. Danny had made a brave attempt in venturine into his office and asking him if he wanted to spend the evening with him and Gracie. Steve had been tempted. He loved Danny's little girl, and he'd hate to disappoint her by not coming, but the need to be alone was bigger this night. He'd politely declined, trying to smile for his partner's sake. They both knew it was fake. As soon as Danny had been out the door, Steve cursed himself mentally. Everything was such a mess, and he had no clue how to fix any of it. He just let the pieces rearrange themselves and hoped for the best.

_Pathetic_, the former SEAL thought at himself again as he made his way through Catherine's report. Thus far, it didn't tell him anything Cath hadn't told him earlier, and he'd yet to stumble upon any of the high lightened passages she'd mentioned earlier. Frustrated, he turned another page when suddenly something changed. At first, Steve couldn't put his finger on it, but then he realized that Catherine had started to refer to Wo Fat by name. Prior to this point the man had always been called 'subject'. Steve frowned. It wasn't at all like Cath to deviate from standardized style.

He skipped the page, and found that on the next page it was back to the former style of the report. Whatever it was, it was specific to that one page. Steve skipped back, and skimmed the page. He couldn't find anything unusual with the text except for the usage of Wo Fat's name. It merely indicated their uncertainty about his location. When he read through it more carefully, he found one more oddity. The final lines eerily resembled their earlier conversation. As Steve read through them again and again, he remembered what Chin had said about how coincidences took a lot of planning.

'Reported sightings of Wo Fat locate him in the far east, however, no evidence can be found that he left the island. He could be the man next door.'

**End of chapter 7!**

**A/N**: What is Catherine trying to tell him here?

I estimate that there'll be about twelve to fifteen chapters in this story, give or take. So we're getting closer to the truth.


	8. Upping the game

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Summary: **Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough.

**Pairings:** Steve/Catherine, some OCs mixed in for a little (or a lot of) drama, minor Danny/Gabby, Kono/Adam

**Chapter 8: Upping the game**

The crime scene was swarming with police men, onlookers and camera teams, trying desperately to get a good picture. Danny couldn't help but click his tongue as a sign of disgust. Spreading the news all over national TV hadn't helped their investigation so far, unless causing civic unrest could be considered helpful. The Jersey detective could relate to the public's fear, and he could understand wanting to know about a potential maniac running around and killing young women, but these vultures weren't truly interested in that. They just wanted their money shot, bring the story and blow it out of proportion.

Death sold even better than sex, Danny had learned.

"Okay, Max, what have we got?", Steve's voice made him turn his head back to the scene. He saw his partner slip his phone into the back pocket of his cargo pants, and the question itself confirmed that they'd found another stranger. He breathed a sigh of relief. Steve would be crawling up walls, not asking professional questions if it were Catherine lying there. Danny took a closer look at the victim. She was wearing a thin multicolored top and a pair of jeans shorts that barely covered her bum. Her face was covered with an unobtrusive layer of make-up, though her eyeshadow was a noticeable shade of purple and her lips were dark from lipstick. It was the only part of her body that wasn't stained with bruises.

"Multiple contusions and lacerations can be found all over the victim's body. If this case is consistent with the other victims found, death was most likely caused by internal bleeding which in turn was caused by blunt force trauma," Max told them in the most clinical voice he could manage. This case was beginning to put a strain on him as well.

Danny nodded gravely. "Okay, do we have a time of death?"

"Judging by the victim's liver temperature and rigor mortis has spread through the entire body, Iw would estimate that time of death must have occurred six to eight hours ago," Max replied confidently. "However, I can't be sure until I have completed an autopsy."

"The sooner the better," Steve told him. "Thanks, Max."

"I'll get right on it," he promised and gave the sign for the body to be zipped up and taken away.

Steve and Danny looked around. They were in a back alley. The victims had all been dumped off the main roads and sidewalks, but visible enough to be found quickly. This was the seventh victim, and neither Steve nor Danny had missed that she, too, had long dark hair and a slender built. This one resembled their friend again. Five out of seven, that was no coincidence. Shaking his head, Danny looked around for possible surveillance. They were in the center of Honolulu, there would be something around. He saw Chin and Kono approach them. Behind the two, a police officer was trying to calm down an elderly man who, Danny concluded, had found the victim.

"I just talked to the witness," Kono told them as a greeting. "He was on his way to the bank when he saw the victim lying there. Thinking she'd had to much to drink last night and passed out, he approached her to wake her. It was then that he saw the bruises, and called 911. HPD dispatched several cars as soon as they heard it fits our guy's MO. They've canvassed the area but couldn't find anything."

"They also got a hold of any surveillance tapes made around this place, and will sent it to us later," Chin continued, then held up a pass-port. "Our victim's name is Sarah Parker from London; she came to the island on vacation."

"Great, just great," Danny muttered. Now they had a foreign national lying dead in a back alley of Honolulu. They'd have to contact the nearest consulate and arrange for transportation of the body, so that Sarah Parker's family may bury her in their home soil. Danny ran a hand though his hair. He didn't look forward to telling someone they'd have to inform the victim's family of her death during her vacation in Hawaii. This was not a conflict country; tourists were supposed to be safe here, but this maniac was changing all the rules. "Okay, do we know where she stayed?"

"I had HPD make a couple of inquiries. Looks like she had booked a room at the Ala Moana Hotel. I was heading there now."

"Okay, Chin," Steve spoke up again. "Take Danny with you. Kono and I will go back to HQ to analyze that footage HPD got for us, and... to call the British consulate."

Danny took Steve to the side.

"You sure you want to do that? I could call them," he suggested quietly.

"No, this is my responsibility, Danny. This is happening because of me. The least I can do is make a phone call," Steve replied, sounding tired.

"Okay, we actually don't know if this is about you," Danny insisted. "This could be about Five-0 as a whole, or have nothing to do with us at all. It might not even be Wo Fat."

He didn't sound very convinced even to himself. Steve gave him a look.

"I'm just saying," Danny amended. "Hope dies last, right?"

5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0

As they entered the chilled hotel room, the first thing they noticed was that it was nearly pristine. If you overlooked some shirts hanging over the armrest of the chair, the purse sitting on the nightstand closest to the door, and the large piece of luggage lying on the ground in the corner of the room, the room might give off the impression not to have been used at all. Danny marched into the middle of the room, arms spread and clicked his tongue again. Chin turned around to the hotel staff member who'd let them in.

"What's this?", he asked curiously. "We were told the room had not been cleaned yet."

"It wasn't," the employee assured them. "It was last cleaned yesterday morning."

"She must not have come back here then," Danny concluded, then pointed at the pile of clothes on the chair, previously obscured. "Except maybe to change for a night on the town."

"If that's the case, we won't find much here," Chin said with a sigh and sent the hotel employee on his way.

"Yeah, but we'll search the room anyway. Maybe we can find an indication where she went last night. It would help to reconstruct her movement, and maybe this way we can find out where she was taken."

Chin nodded solemnly, and they got started. He went into the attached bathroom while Danny search the bedroom. The bathroom was small and cramped with make-up, lip stick and other beauty products. Some were neatly ordered into separate corners, while other were in a disarray around the sink. A closer look told Chin that they resembled the make-up the victim had worn when they saw her body. He bagged them as evidence, though mostly to be thorough, not because he thought it might actually give them a lead. Like the bedroom, the bathroom was clean and there was no sign of a struggle or a presence other than Sarah Parker's. Wherever she had been abducted, it hadn't been here.

"Chin!", Danny called.

With a few steps he was back in the main room. Danny was holding something in his hand. Approaching his friend and looking over his shoulder, Chin saw that it was a small leaflet for a nightclub near the beach. With a little luck, someone would remember seeing her there last night. Perhaps they'd even seen her leave with someone, and could identify them. Nightclubs often had surveillance installed at the front door if not in the establishment itself. They might have a lead, finally.

"Let's hope this is where she went last night," Danny muttered. They finished canvassing the room, but found nothing more that seemed of interest at the time. Exiting, they told the HPD uniform that had been waiting for them to have the room cleared out once they'd searched it a second time and taken pictures of everything. They went to Danny's Camaro at a hurried pace, and had HPD sent over a picture of their victim to their phones, so that they could show them around. They were grateful that the women hadn't been hit in the face as it would make it easier for witnesses to recognize them. This way, they'd been able to reconstruct most of the victims' movements right before their abduction. So far, though, the culprit or group of them – with the amount of damage done; max couldn't exclude that there had been more than one aggressor – had been careful. They had yet to find anything of value on surveillance footage.

"Do you think this is Wo Fat's doing?", Danny suddenly asked, his voice ringing loudly in the silence.

"You don't?", Chin questioned right back. So far they'd all seemed to assume this position. It was news to him that Danny had doubts.

"I don't know," the detective admitted. "I mean, yeah, I doubt he'd have a problem with this, unless he discovered love and turned his life upside down, but... I don't know. It just doesn't seem like him. He's a bastard, that's for sure. A weapons' dealer and a killer, sure, but he's not exactly the psychotic kind. He's too logical... All these victims, they were kidnapped, beaten to death, and then laid out in plain sight, more or less."

"Sounds right up his alley to me," Chin commented. "It's rational, clinical and adequate to achieve the best effect. And he's proven to be capable of torture if you remember North Korea."

"Yes," Danny said gravely, "yes. Trust me I've not forgotten what he did to Steven. This is different, though. He went right at Steve to get to Shelburne then. Not only does this have no influence on his finding Shelburne, since Doris has disappeared a little while ago, and is doing God knows what on the island; it also involves people who have no clue what it's about. These women don't know why they're kidnapped and tortured; they're not involved."

"What if he's doing it to bait Steve," Chin argued. "I mean, after the photo in the Derryl case, and the close resemblance of most of the victims. He's messing with us, Danny."

"Someone certainly is, but two of the victim's don't resemble Catherine at all, and Wo Fat doesn't strike me as the type to hide behind numbers or the occasional inconsistency. When he wanted Steve, he went right at him through Kaye. Perhaps to rub a little salt into the wound, okay, I get that. But Catherine hasn't been grabbed, and not all victims are connected to her. Wo Fat doesn't do teasing."

Chin hummed. Danny had a point there. Five-0's favorite nemesis wasn't into games. He did what he had to do to get what he wanted, and if he wanted something, he took it. Getting to Steve through Catherine would make sense. To some extent even the five doppelgangers made sense as a threat, or perhaps a build-up to the main event, but the other two? Still, this couldn't be their typical serial killer going on a spree. There were to many coincidences linking back to their task force for that to be the case. Coincidences took a lot of planning, and these kidnapping were certainly planned to the T, so as not to leave any valuable evidence.

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"I'm so sorry." Steve concluded the phone call with an apology, and hung up softly. He ran a hand through his hair, then over his face. Talking to family who'd just lost someone was never easy, but at least he could express his regret personally. The fact that this would be next to impossible in this case, made it even harder to talk to the counsel to inform him that one of his citizens had fallen prey to a serial killer, let alone that they were nowhere near close to catching the guy. He hadn't mentioned their suspicion that this was all for their benefit; they hadn't mentioned that to anyone, not even Duke or HPD. Only their team, Catherine, and Captain Coulston knew; the latter because he had to brief the MP of the potential additional threat to their security. The MP might have puzzled it together, but so far nothing had leaked to the press or the public.

He exited his office and joined Kono at their main screens. She was looking through surveillance footage. Several different video tapes were running at the same time as her quick, analytical gaze flicked through the images in an attempt to find something useful. He came to a stand next to her, and they watched the footage together in silence for a few moments. None showed the alley directly, but one camera had been pointed at the street it led to. They were watching last nights' traffic for anything suspicious. The later it got, the less cars passed the camera. No surprise there as that part of town was free of bars or nightclubs and most restaurant closed at eleven.

"Whoa, stop!"

Ripped out of his concentration, Steve watched Kono stop the tape as a small, dark delivery van passed it, stopping for what he assumed was a red light ahead.

"What?", he asked, but thought that she may be right to suspect something. The vehicle was definitively large enough to drive a body around town. Kono rewound the tape by a few frames, and pointed at the front of the van as it came into the range of the camera. Now Steve saw it, too. Someone had removed the license plate from the car. Pointing his finger at the recording, he turned to Kono. "See if you can find other images of that van from traffic cameras along the road, and find out-"

"-which way they went. Got it, boss," Kono finished the sentence for him quickly, and started typing away at their computer desk. "You know, this is the seventh victim in total and the second this month. That never happened."

"I know," Steve answered grimly. "They've upped their game."

"Or become too impatient with our inability to find them? They might be heralding the final phase," Kono wondered aloud. "What if they're not happy with substitutes anymore? What if... "

She didn't know how to finish that sentence.

"What if they grab Cath next." Steve's face was set in stone. "I've asked myself the same thing all morning, Kono. I called Cath on my way to the crime scene. She's on base, working. She's safe there... For now."

She's also told him that she wasn't putting her life on hold because some maniac may be after her. If she lived her life in constant fear, she wouldn't be living a life at all, and Wo Fat would've already won. Her words, not his. She wasn't about to give the bastard the satisfaction. Knowing that he wasn't going to convince her to stay on base after her shift was over, he'd called HPD on his way to his truck earlier, asked them to place a patrol in front of her car, follow her to her house or wherever she decided to go, and told them to call his team directly if something happened. Catherine had not been happy with the babysitters, but had understood the necessity and not protested. Once he'd ended the phone call, Steve had sighed in double relief. She'd accepted help, and it had been the first conversation just between the two of them that hadn't ended in an argument or mutual emotional agony.

"I've got it," Kono told him triumphantly. She pulled up images of about a dozen different traffic cameras, and reconstructed the path of the van until it disappeared into a tunnel. Ironically, or maybe intentionally, Steve recognized the tunnel that had first led to Cath's introduction to his new job and his team. He knew there were no more cameras on that route. Cursing, he hit the computerized table, then walked away a couple of steps to regain his composure. "Okay, I got one more thing."

Steve turned around to face her again.

"A truck matching the one on the tape was found abandoned just beyond the tunnel in an emergency lay-by. It was towed away this morning. I'll call HPD to pass it on to forensics," the young officer informed him just as a call made his phone vibrate.

Seeing Danny's caller ID, he laid it on the table once he'd picked up.

"Yeah, Danny, you're on speaker."

"Okay, we think we've found the club our vic was headed for last night." Danny's voice sounded strained. "Chin and I went there, and showed her photo around, but none of the staff can remember seeing her. The bouncers have gone home for the day, but Chin and I have watched the surveillance tape from the front entrance. She isn't on it. Looks like she never made it to the club."

"Or it wasn't her destination at all," Chin added. "We don't really know."

"Please tell me you got something."

"We think we've identified the van used to take the body to the scene. The license plates had been removed, and it was left abandoned on the highway in a stretch with no camera surveillance. It was towed to HPD this morning. Kono will call them and have the van sent over to forensics," Steve explained.

"So, basically we got nothing?", Chin asked.

"Not unless you count the governor breathing down our necks. I had to brief him before I talked to the British counsel. He wants this case solved."

"Lovely," Danny commented sarcastically. "Nothing like a bit of pressure to make an unbearable situation even worse."

"I know, Danny, I know."

There was silence for a moment as Kono grabbed her own phone to call Duke. They exchanged a few words before Kono thanked him, and nodded to Steve to inform him that the van would be in forensics soon. A ping alerted them to an email from Max. Apparently, their coroner had finished the autopsy, and wanted to brief them on his findings. They agreed to meet up their as Danny and Chin were already on their way back.

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"Good afternoon, gentlemen, Kono," Max greeted them succinctly.

"What have you got, Max?", Danny asked, desperate for something.

"As it turns out, my first conclusion about the cause of death was erroneous."

"You're saying that she wasn't beaten to death?", Kono questioned, surprised.

"The contusions and lacerations were caused by severe beating which have indeed led to some internal bleeding, which would have been fatal in the long run, but the actual cause of death is this," Max answered clinically, lifting a part of the sheet covering the victim's body to expose the flank. Just shy of her breast they could make out a severe, round burn mark that had previously been hidden beneath her top. "It would seem that Sarah Parker died of electrocution"

"Electrocution?"

"Macroshock to be more precise. A current of 10 mA or more that passes through the body. The heart is the most susceptible organ. Small currents can cause fibrillation that can lead to death if not countered by a defibrillator. Larger currents will leave burns on the heart, making recovery impossible. I examined her heart, and found such burns. This would suggest that the current used to kill Miss Parker must have been at least 1 A strong."

"So, you're telling me that this guy not only stepped up his pace, but also changed his method in how he kills his victims," Steve concluded.

"It would appear so," Max said sadly. "Though only the final phase was changed. The victim was still beaten to the point of near death. The electrocution merely hastened the process."

The team looked at each other in silence. This reminded them of what Steve had told them of Wo Fat's torturing method. He'd used electricity. Steve had had a couple of burn marks on his skin, but the current had entered his body far enough away from his heart not to cause fibrillation or permanent damage, because Wo Fat had wanted him to lead the way to Shelburne. He would've only needed to up the voltage if he'd wanted to kill Steve.

"There's one more thing I think you need to see," Max spoke up, sounding less clinical and more defeated. It reminded Danny of their conversation about his mother just after they'd finally found the real Trashman. Max turned around, picking something up from beside his microscope and put it in Danny's hand. It was bagged and smeared with blood, but unmistakeable.

Danny held up the bag with the small gold chain with a wedding band hanging from it. Chin closed his eyes for a moment as the image reminded him of Malia and how she'd kept his ring on a chain around her neck for years. Pressing his lips together, he fought down the pain as the memory invoked other images of his wife – lying on the ground, bleeding out in his arms.

"There might be another victim," he choked out. Danny closed his fist around the ring to cut off Chin's view of it as he noticed the effect it was having on his friend. He placed his free hand on the man's shoulder, and apologized for being so insensitive. With all the crap going on in his partner's life, the jersey detective had forgotten for a moment that Chin, too, was grieving. "It's okay, Danny, I'm fine. There was no indication of a man staying in the hotel with her. She was the only one booked into the room."

"Maybe the engagement is off, or she couldn't decide yet."

"And fled to the other side of the world," Kono continued. "Talk about running from your problems."

"So maybe it's not her ring."

**End of chapter 8!**

**A/N:** Okay, it might be a bit mean of me to leave it there, but... on the upside the next chapter will bring the resolution as to why Steve and Cath broke up - sort of.

Unfortunately, there's a bit of bad news as well. I don't know when (or if) I'll update next Sunday as I will be competing in a Taekwondo competition all day. If I manage to remember that I need to update, it won't happen before late afternoon or early evening (UK time). If not, I'll update on Monday.


	9. Over the edge

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Summary: **Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough.

**Pairings:** Steve/Catherine, some OCs mixed in for a little (or a lot of) drama, minor Danny/Gabby, Kono/Adam

**Chapter 9: Over the edge**

Danny held up the bag with the small gold chain with a diamond ring hanging from it. Chin closed his eyes for a moment as the image reminded him of Malia and how she'd kept his ring on a chain around her neck for years. Pressing his lips together, he fought down the pain as the memory invoked other images of his wife – lying on the ground, bleeding out in his arms.

"There might be another victim," he choked out. Danny closed his fist around the ring to cut off Chin's view of it as he noticed the effect it was having on his friend. He placed his free hand on the man's shoulder, and apologized for being so insensitive. With all the crap going on in his partner's life, the jersey detective had forgotten for a moment that Chin, too, was grieving. "It's okay, Danny, I'm fine. There was no indication of a man staying in the hotel with her. She was the only one booked into the room."

"Maybe the engagement is off, or she couldn't decide yet."

"And fled to the other side of the world," Kono continued. "Talk about running from your problems."

"So maybe it's not her ring."

"What do you mean, not her ring?", Danny asked, curious. "Who's ring is it then? Are you suggesting she stole it?"

Steve shook his head.

"Maybe. Another option is that it is a plant."

The rest of Five-0 and Max exchanged unsure glances. They couldn't help but think that to be a bit far-fetched to them, and even Steve seemed to be grasping at straws here. It was coming to a point where Danny couldn't help but wonder if they were adjusting facts to work into their theory instead of the other way around as it should be. Maybe they needed a fresh eye on this – someone else to work on the case for a while. They knew, though, that they wouldn't be able to let this go, even if the Governor made it an order. Wo Fat, even the chance of him being involved, made it too important, too personal to let go of the case. Their Ohana was in danger, and Five-0 wouldn't rest till it was over.

"A plant? What for?", Danny asked out loud. "Why plant an engagement ring on a victim. The killer has never done that before."

"He's also never electrocuted someone. Or killed twice in a month," Steve reminded them as they continued to look incredulous. "He's changed the rules on us. What if this is just another new facet of that bastard's sick, twisted game?"

"By reminding us of Malia's death?", Kono added.

"She was Ohana," Steve said seriously. "We had a death in the family, and it's left us raw. We know that Delano and Wo Fat were working together at some point – at least on Wo Fat's escape from prison. The association makes sense."

Chin shook his head emphatically.

"But why an engagement ring?", Danny piped up. "So far, it's revolved around you. The choice of victims – except for victims number two and six – the beatings, and now the electrocution apparently taken from your time as Wo Fat's prisoner in North Korea. The ring doesn't fit in. It's direct target would be Chin. So why the ring?"

Steve spread his arms for a moment, then let them fall against his side in a sign of bewilderment and, perhaps, desperation. He and Danny stared at each other for a second. Something passed between them, flickering on Steve's face, before the former SEAL turned on his heel and left the coroner's office in a hurry. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, Danny almost ran after him, but not without leaving further instructions for Chin and Kono. If his partner's gut instinct was right, the ring could get them closer to the killer.

"If that ring is a plant, it has probably been purchased on the island. Find out where that came from." Belatedly, he added. "Thanks, Max."

"How do you suggest we do that?!, he could hear Kono call after him. "There are dozens of jewelers on Oahu. It would take days if not weeks to ask every single one, and they might not even remember?"

Danny popped his head back in.

"The victims have all been dumped with a three mile radius of HQ," he reminded her.

Kono nodded. "If they were as bold in buying the ring...Okay, we'll start with jewelers who work close by. We'll take the ring. An engagement ring caked in blood has to boost people's memories, hopefully."

Danny gave them the thumbs up, and vanished out the door. Chin had already taken out his phone to locate the nearest jewelers. He googled jewelers in Honolulu and zoomed in on the area close to their headquarters in the Aliʻiōlani Hale building. With a self-deprecating smile he turned the phone around so Kono could see the map with the results. She groaned. There was a lot of footwork waiting for them, and they couldn't really separate because they only had one ring. Kono thought about taking a picture of the ring, but wasn't sure if a jeweler would recognize their merchandise from a photo. Then again, she had her doubts a jeweler would recognize it at all. There wasn't really anything special about the ring. She looked at it again. Danny had left it lying next to the victim's feet as he'd run out. Kono picked it up, and inspected it a bit closer.

"There's an engraving on the inside," Max informed her.

The cousins looked back at him.

"Why didn't you say something earlier?", Chin asked.

"I did not get the chance, and you seemed more interested in its significance."

Kono smiled apologetically. He'd sounded a bit miffed. Nearly every jeweler engraved, so it wouldn't cut down on the footwork, but there was a better chance of them remembering their handiwork than a single ring sold amongst a myriad. If it turned out to be a recent engraving, they should also have a record of it.

"We're sorry, Max. We would like to know what the engraving says."

Max bowed slightly in her direction.

"The inscription is in Chinese characters," he started to explain, holding up a piece of paper on which he'd drawn a number of symbols: 百年好合. "I myself do not speak Chinese, but I emailed a picture to Fong in ICU, and he was able to recognize it as the Chinese characters for 'happily ever after', a popular message to have engraved on your wedding band."

"I didn't know that Fong speaks Chinese, but it saves us the trouble of asking Steve," Kono sounded impressed. "He is pretty shaken up, I think. Thanks, Max."

The two cousins made their way outside, trying to agree on an order in which to visit the jewelers that wouldn't take them in a zigzag course through the blocks. Their first three jewelers were naturally horrified at what they told them, but hadn't sold any engagement rings with Chinese engravings on the inside. Everyone of them remarked that it was odd to have once engagement ring engraved; the wedding band being the more obvious choice not only as a final commitment, but because its width allowed to better show off the inscription. As they were making their way to the next jewelery down the street, Chin an Kono contemplated this in a quiet discussion.

"When I went looking for a ring to present to Malia, the thought of having it engraved didn't cross my mind. Not even once."

"It's an odd notion," Kono agreed. "If I had gotten such a ring, it would feel almost as if Adam was not really counting on getting to put the wedding band on my finger."

That made Chin stop dead in his tracks, Kono turning to face him.

"Relax, cuz," she laughed. "I'm just saying. It's not that serious." _Yet_, she added seriously in the privacy of her own mind when the thought bubbled in her chest. Chin, not knowing what to do with this, nodded. He still didn't like Adam Noshimuri around his kid cousin. He wasn't sure if she knew what she was getting involved in, but didn't want to risk fighting with her over the topic. She might shut him out completely, again.

"So, maybe McGarrett was right, and it was a message," he choked out instead. Wo Fat was a sick bastard, but to rub the death of his wife into their faces when they were only starting to get better – that was low even for him.

"I suppose. The migrations that ended in Polynesian settlements are thought to have originated in China, but basing a Chinese engraving on that..." Kono shrugged.

"It does seem a bit far-fetched for a pun," Chin agreed as they rang the bell to have the next jeweler open the door for them. Both members of Five-0 put their badges against the thick glass door, knowing they didn't look like they'd be able to afford expensive jewelry on sale there. One look had the two women on the inside hurry to buzz them through. They entered with a confident stride, taking in their surroundings. No customers were in the shop at the moment. The lack of people suited the two cops just fine. It would draw less attention to the case.

"How may I help you, officers," the elder of the two women asked them.

Kono held up the bagged ring, and, as expected, the woman recoiled a little when she realized the red substance smeared over the precious metal was blood.

"This ring was found on a murder victim. We have reason to believe it was purchased in the vicinity, and were hoping you could help us. Could this be one of yours?"

The women exchanged worried glances.

"Most engagement rings are rather standard, I'm afraid," she told them gesturing to a display case that was labeled 'Engagement & Wedding Rings' and contained quite a few thin gold bands with small diamonds on top. "We sell quite a few of them. Most men buy their women jewelery for special occasions or when they need to be forgiven, but rarely rings. It would be difficult to tell where they came from."

"Well, this ring you might remember," Kono insisted. "It has a Chinese engraving on the inside. We were told it is rather unusual to to that to an engagement ring."

"I remember that!", the younger woman exclaimed, making both cousins turn to her as she rounded the display case behind which she had stood to join them. She took the bag carefully from Kono's hand, and took a good long look at the ring. Then she told them to wait there, put down the bag, and rushed into a backroom, only to emerge a few seconds later with a large record book. She started skimming through the pages until Chin and Kono could hear her give a small cry of triumph, and raised their eyebrows."It was a couple of weeks ago. It was late. I remember, because there was nothing else going on then, either, and we were about to close anyway. The man picked one from our display case. I thought it odd at the time, because he barely looked at the rings in the display case. He wanted it engraved with these Chinese characters. Was a bit of work, let me tell you."

She pointed at the record book where the cousins could see the a couple of initials scratched onto a page marked with the date of late last month. It said M.N. Underneath was a note that said 'engraving', and a piece of paper with the Chinese characters printed on it. The guy hadn't even left his handwriting. Nonetheless, Chin and Kono looked at each other again, possibly thinking the same thing: jackpot. With a bit of luck, they may finally have a solid lead, perhaps even a face to put to their serial killer. If it was Wo Fat or someone known to be associated with him, they had the final proof that he was still on the island and would also be closer to putting him back in jail, and perhaps hurt his international crime organization, too. They would rest easier, then.

"We will need surveillance footage from that day," Kono told the women.

"That won't be possible," the elder woman apologized. "We have surveillance set up, but the records get wiped or overwritten after a week to protect the privacy of our customers."

Chin cursed silently, throwing his head back, and Kono groaned. This was unbelievable.

"Can you describe the man, Miss Stuart?", she asked reading the name tag for the first time which was rude, but she had been preoccupied.

"Asian, but not from the Island. They all look a bit alike," she admitted guiltily. "I remember that he wore a pricey looking suit. When he raised his arm to inspect the ring, I could see that he had a tattoo there."

"Can you describe it?"

"No, I only caught a glimpse, but it covered his entire wrist. He paid in cash."

They left the jeweler's shop after telling Miss Stuart that they would send one of HPD's sketch artists around to see if they could put her memories on paper and get two . At least they knew the woman would recognize their guy. Kono made the call, then informed Chin that HPD was making it a priority, and they'd have a sketch by this evening at the latest. They went back to Kono's bright red car, and decided to get back to HQ. Maybe Danny had calmed their boss down, and they could regroup.

Kono bit her lip as she drove back towards Five-0's office space. It would be a short ride, but something didn't sit well with her. Danny and Chin had been right. The whole thing had been build around McGarrett's and Catherine's relationship, bringing Malia into it made no sense. Wo Fat had a vendetta against all of Five-0, but ever since Steve had found and brought in Shelburne, his supposedly dead mother of all people, the Korean had had a special interest in their boss. He'd had the chance to shoot Doris and not taken it for whatever reason, but he was certainly not done with Steve if recent events were anything to go by. Maybe he wanted to get the son out of the way first, but then, why hadn't he attempted on his life.

No, he was biding his time, and making Steve suffer in the meantime. Wasn't it bad enough that he and Catherine had broken up, now Wo Fat had to go and exploit Steve's feelings by threatening her. Kono suddenly made a u-turn. Chin crying out 'Jesus, Kono!' only partially registered, and maybe she was the one who was taking all of this too hard, and not Steve, because the clearly thinking part of her brain told her she was probably breaking down and losing it.

"Kono!", Chin's warning voice drifted over to her as she stepped on the gas and headed for the beach.

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_(Earlier)_

Danny had followed his partner back to headquarters without opening his mouth; a feat, he thought, he should be commended for, considering the fireworks of suppositions and conclusions that were going off in his head. Instead of starting an argument in the middle of the street, though, as he would have done any other day, he let them enter the building without disturbing the professional air about them. They made it quietly to Steve's office where, as both of them knew it would happen, Danny decided to explode.

"What. Was. That?", the Jersey detective asked his partner in a dangerously loud voice, but he didn't care if the Governor could hear them right now. "What is that face – and don't say 'What face?', because you know what I mean! What is it about that engagement ring that you're not telling us? It's not just Malia, is it?"

"Danny."

"Oh, the connotation is there, certainly and intentionally, but this is a message for you, personally, just like every other victim, and just like the electrocution. So spill it." Danny needed to take a deep breath before continuing, and not just because he needed the oxygen supply. "Were you planning to propose to Catherine, is that it?"

"What, no!"

"Yeah, that came out too fast, Stevie! Look, if you and Catherine were talking about marriage before the breakup, that-"

"No, Danny, we weren't. We never did," Steve clarified. "Look, the conversation cropped up once with my SEAL team; Catherine wasn't even there. We had some downtime during a mission, and, I don't know, they made a joke, asking when I would make an honest woman out of her. We never talked about it again, and I never mentioned it to Cath, though it did get stuck in my head for a while."

He conceded that freely, hoping it would leave Danny feeling more inclined to letting the subject go. He should have known better.

"And what? You walked into the nearest jewelry store and bought a ring?", Danny asked him skeptically, and if the topic weren't so serious – and so god damn heartbreaking – Steve would have probably laughed. As it were, a bitter smile made its way onto his face.

"First off, no. Not stuck like that, Danny. Second, the undisclosed location where we were, wasn't exactly a shopping center, so any stores would have been hard to come by – let alone jewelry. And third, if I had just walked into a..." He tried to find a neutral word which had Danny rolling his eyes at him. "...a settlement like that, the Natives would have made a human Swiss cheese of me, so it would have been out of the question anyway."

Steve leaned back against his hardwood desk, while Danny waited for him to continue, only urging him on with a small wave of his hand.

"When Malia died – don't interrupt me, this is important," Steve cut Danny's intended interruption off, "when Malia died, Chin was so broken. Delano had given him a choice between the two people he loved most in the world, and when he said he'd go after his wife, the bastard had had her shot anyway. She died because Delano had a personal grudge against Chin. It reinforced... why I should stay away from Cath, why I could never settle down with her. She will never be safe with me, Danno. Wo Fat would come after her if we were together. "

Danny's eyebrows rose to his hairline.

"Uhm, Steve," he began quietly, "that's bullshit. In case you hadn't noticed, he's coming after her anyway. It's not you two being together that makes her a target, it's your feelings for her, so, unless you know how to turn them off, it's just not going to go away."

"Don't you think I know that, Danny?! Why do you think I started to see Valerie out of business hours, yet it never got serious? I was trying to take the heat off Cath, make Wo Fat lose interest in her, while at the same time not jeopardizing someone else's life. Some kisses for you guys aside, we're just pals. Wo Fat would get his info straight", Steve told him angrily, getting up and pacing through his office. Danny let him. He watched his friend pace back and forth like a caged animal, until the former SEAL came to a stop by the window. His shoulders slumped, he looked defeated to Danny, and the detective's heart went out to his friend. It had always bothered him that Steve hadn't fought to keep Catherine around. Now he knew why. What Chin had told them months ago had hinted at that, but now Danny knew the whole magnitude. Everything his friend had gone through, everything he done and not done, had been to protect the woman he loved. Danny couldn't imagine the strength it must have taken Steve not to do something about their separation.

"Seeing that ring," Steve spoke up again, his voice hoarse. "It reminded me that Chin may have wasted precious time with Malia, but they found each other in the end. They had time to be together, and grow together, and... I might never have that with Cath."

"How did you two break up?", Danny asked after a moment's pause.

"I told her about my concern that she'd be a target as long as she was with me, and she said it back to me that day at the office. Also, we had had an argument over her keeping secrets from me regarding my mother. I was angry at her, and she told me I obviously couldn't trust her anymore, turning it into a reason when I had never intended her to feel that way. Also, we had never been together for so long in one go, and with my mom back on the island, things were becoming... a bit tense and awkward..."

"Blimey, Steven, that sounds like two people who want to find a reason to break up."

"I did, Danny. I did, but I couldn't... I needed her to be the one who walked away. I was a coward, and I hoped it would make it easier for her to move on – seems like I was right... I didn't fight for her, because at the time I thought it was true. That she was better off without me. I wasted precious time. I'm an idiot."

"Yes, you are," Danny agreed. "That woman loves you to bits. She's not whole without you."

"I...", Steve began to formulate an answer when suddenly a thought struck him. He went stock-still, every muscle in his body clenched in position. Dread made its way down his spine until it settled in his gut, sending shivers all over him. Within a second he snapped out of it, and hurried over to his desk to look through the assorted papers there. When he finally found what he was looking for, understanding, fear and relief flooded his system all at once. Could Wo Fat have...? No, Catherine would have told him, wouldn't she? What if she'd not been able to? Had she been scared? Feared for her life?

"I have to talk to Catherine," he announced, and made a grab for his phone to call the protection detail, and find out where they were at the moment.

_And look what you put her through_, Danny thought. _She willingly went through all of this to ease your fears. When this is over, you better do more than buy her a house, sailor_. The joke sparked a memory in Danny, a memory that had him inwardly cursing as he started to drag an uncharacteristically compliant Steve out of the office at a frenzied pace.

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Lunch at Kamekona's was becoming a favorite for her and Ben. Each of them had about an hour to meet up for lunch, the food was great, and orders didn't take long. Whenever their jobs would allow it, they'd make use of the opportunity to eat with the sun shining onto their faces and the ocean breeze running through their hair.

Lunch at Kamekona's was suddenly and brusquely interrupted when Kono slammed herself down opposite of Catherine, and, ignoring Ben, told her she needed to talk to her. About girl stuff, she said. Raising an eyebrow at the young officer's behavior, Ben nonetheless took the hint and called an uncomfortable looking Chin over to get the ladies some drinks. They removed themselves from the table, walking back to the truck and therefore out of earshot with the sizzling sound of frying shrimp humming in the background. They leaned back against the truck, gladly accepting the beer Kamekona was offering, and looked back at the two women.

"They're talking about McGarrett, aren't they?", Ben asked with a frustrated little sigh.

"I'm sorry, man. This can't be easy for you," Chin replied sympathetically. "Kono made a split-second decision to come here. Nearly gave me a heart attack with how she drove. She seems like a woman on a mission."

"This might be a good thing. It's about time she talked to someone openly about everything. She's told me a little, but I don't think anyone knows the entire story. She's kept it bottled up inside. Talking about it is long overdue, and it may help her decide what she wants to do... about us."

The attorney took a nip from his bottle, his eyes wandering back to Catherine. Chin followed his line of sight, and saw the Navy officer fiddle nervously with her service khakis or something underneath it. A closer look revealed that she had a gold necklace disappearing underneath her blouse. The image struck Chin so intensely, he didn't have to wager a guess at what could be found there.

"Are congratulations in order?", he asked, genuinely smiling.

Ben shrugged. "Don't know. She told me that she couldn't honestly say that she didn't love McGarrett anymore, and that it wouldn't be fair to either of us if we got married now. I asked her to think about it, and give me her answer when she's ready. When she knows what she wants."

He sounded slightly annoyed, which Chin found understandable. It wasn't easy competing with feelings that just wouldn't go away. Most men wouldn't have bothered trying. Still, marriage was a big step, and Chin wondered why Ben had asked Catherine so soon. He must have known that she still felt for Steve.

"I'll be honest with you," the Five-0 officer said. "When Steve and Catherine were together, we all expected them to get married and have a bunch of baby SEALs as Danny called them, and I would be happy for them if they got back together. But their breakup, however little any of us know about it, was bad. It _broke them_. I didn't see much of Catherine afterward, but I could tell she was hurting. With you, she started to get better. She may still have feelings for Steve, but she is happy with you. She deserves to be happy. I really do hope it works out for you."

He held out his hand to the other man who, with a grateful nod, took it.

"I'm just glad it's not that serious with Kono and Adam, yet," Chin admitted, looking over at his cousin.

"Don't know what you're supposed to do about them, do you?"

Chin nodded. "Pretty much. Adam did save her life a while ago..."

"That doesn't sound to bad," Ben commented, which led Chin to turn his head back to the man, and elaborate further.

"He also tied her up with duct tape in order to go after, kidnap, torture and kill the man who murdered his father."

"Okay... that does sound bad. It also sounds organized. Normal people don't just up and decide to kill. This guy got connections to the criminal world?", Ben queried and Chin realized for the firs time that they'd never given him Adam's surname.

"Yakuza. He's Adam Noshimori, the new head. He says he's trying to clean up his businesses, but I just don't know. What if it doesn't work out and he goes back to crimes? He could drag Kono down with him. Also, there are a few elements in his organization who're bound to not appreciate the move towards legitimate business. His last lawyer killed a CIA agent to open a path to Wo Fat, then tried to kill him. His brother Michael just got out of jail on the mainland, and Kono isn't too sure he likes the new direction of the family business. He's been out a lot at night lately, and Kono thinks he may be rekindling old acquaintances."

"You're afraid that Kono could get caught in the crossfire." It was a statement, not a question, but Chin nodded anyway. Ben looked at him for a moment. The man was truly at a loss of what to do. "What does she say about all this?"

Chin sighed. "I haven't really said a lot in regard. She's convinced he'll pull through, and I don't want to risk fighting with her, because she might shut me out completely. She deflected any questions about her boyfriend for ages, and when I did find out, it was due to a case, and because I had followed her around. Then she nearly died, and I had to trust him to save her, and well..."

Ben contemplated this for a bit. He wasn't really sure what to tell Chin, either. On one hand, he could understand the man's concerns. On the other, any attempt at interference might indeed be misinterpreted, blown out of proportion and end in chilly silence on both ends. It was one of the reasons why he never mentioned McGarrett to Catherine, despite the fact that the matter bothered him and her policy of non-disclosure drove him around the bent at times. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that they were still screwing each other behind his back. Fighting down his own anger, he turned his attention back to the problem at hand, and said the only thing he could say, even if he didn't really believe the stuff himself.

"Well, I don't know about Michael, though I would probably spent the first few months mostly out and about, too, if I'd just gotten out of jail, and I shouldn't be telling you this, but my law firm handles some of the legal matters of Noshimori's businesses. Those he's handed into our legal care are clean," he informed a stunned Chin, before moving on to the advice he had to give. "The only thing you can do, I think, is be there for her. If or when it all breaks apart, you can be there to help her through. Until then, keep an eye on her, but let her live her own life."

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_(Meanwhile with Kono and Catherine)_

"Okay, spill," was all Kono said, but the meaning behind those two words couldn't have been any clearer to Catherine if the younger woman had held up a neon sign demanding to know the story in full detail. Catherine's threw her fork down onto the plastic plate with the remainder of her shrimp lunch, and clenched her other hand until the knuckles turned white. She considered refusing, but the burning look in Kono's eyes signaled her that she wasn't getting off that easy, and she started thinking that maybe coming clean with someone wouldn't be such a bad idea. Kono was the most likely person to talk to about a difficult relationship as she had her own troubles with Adam and his ties to the Yakuza.

"Kono..." she sighed.

"No, listen. I know it's none of business, except you're both my friends, so it kinda becomes my business. People are being murdered, Catherine, and after Steve's reaction to the engagement ring we found on our latest victim today, I can't help but think that it's somehow connected to your breakup."

"You found an engagement ring on the victim?!", Catherine exclaimed, shocked. Her hand rose to press against her heart, and curled firmly into the blouse of her service khakis.

"Yes, and Steve immediately thought it wasn't hers. He walked out on us, and Danny had to run after him," Kono explained succinctly. "Catherine, did Steve propose to you? Is that what your fight – if one can call it that – was about somehow?"

"No, no,"the Navy officer whispered back on an exhale. "He never... We never talked about anything like that. Kono, we barely acknowledged that we were actually together. It was always an unstated arrangement. We..."

"Then why?", Kono dug deeper. She was sorry for the obvious distress she was causing her friend, but this bloody situation needed to be cleared up. Something about the ring had struck a nerve with Steve, and the way a breathless, flushed Catherine kept fiddling with her blouse indicated that it affected her quite a bit, too.

"I..." Catherine sighed. "Alright."

_Flashback_

_She was wearing her Navy dress blues, partially because she had to go to work later, but mostly because she hoped they would lend her the strength to do what needed to be done. Her palms were sweating as her skin was covered in goosebumps, and she could swear her heart was trying to escape from the confines of her chest with how hard it was beating. She took a deep, calming breath, the oxygen of which got lost somewhere between her mouth and her lungs. So she took another. Then another. Finally, she squared her shoulders, raised her head up and walked into the office space. _

_The low heels of her shoes clicked loudly across the floor. Kono greeted her enthusiastically, and Chin and Danny smiled at her, but she had no eyes for them. Determined, she walked over to Steve's office, opening the glass doors with almost brutal force, and closed it firmly behind her once she'd entered. She hadn't bothered to knock, not this time. As soon as she was inside, and his eyes rose from whatever papers he'd been studying to meet hers, she could feel her stomach churn, and her heart twist, and she was close to fainting. She wanted to be anywhere but here. She wanted to have anything on her mind but what was there. She wanted to walk into his arms and never let him go._

_Instead, she remained where she was, silent and pale as a marble statue. Steve needed but one look at her to tell why she was there. He stood up, and the hands on his desk turned into fists. The look in his eyes changed from intense concentration to one of defeat, then hardened in some kind of resolution. He moved around the desk until he could lean against the front. He motioned her closer, and like a moth wanting to be burned she moved, coming to a stop only a few feet from him. Steve passed two fingers over his eyes, and sighed._

"_I know why you're here," he whispered, no tone in his voice. It would be the only thing he said._

"_I came to tell you that you're right," she told him nonetheless, keeping her voice as neutral as possible. She could not hide the small tremor in it, born of the fact that she was not convinced of what she was going to do. She did not want to leave him, but there was simply no other option left for them. "We've been sitting on each other too much, lately, our every interaction has become a walk on eggshells. Then there's your mother, and my betrayal of your trust. I should have told you about Mangosta, and when I decided not to, I broke your faith in me, even though you didn't know until recently. That just made everything worse. We tried so hard, before, to reestablish some shred of normalcy, of the ease there's always been in being together, and my lie destroyed that effort."_

_She looked directly at him throughout her speech, and could see his bright blue eyes clouding up – whether it was with memories or pain, or a mixture of both, she could not tell. She didn't know what it meant, only her own pain truly registered. Every word she spoke was like a knife to her own_ _chest; she could feel the tears rising, but fought them back down. This was not the moment to break. She could do that later, after work when she got back home. Or maybe in her Corvette parked outside the office building. She could break down and have a good, long cry. She needed it. This was not what she'd intended when she'd told him about her transfer to Pearl. Ever since she'd put ashore, things had turned upside down and against them. His mother still keept secret from him, she's lied to him, and Wo Fat was on the prowl, looking for a way to get his revenge on Steve. Well, she was playing right in his hand, wasn't she?!_

_She put a hand over his to get his attention, but his eyes remained empty, distant, as if he were trying to shield himself from the pain._

"_I thought about what you said," she continued, whispering. "You were right that Wo Fat being out to hurt you, makes me a target. What's more important, though, is that it makes me a liability."_

_That got his attention. Steve opened his mouth to protest, but she put her finger against his lips. Her face was so close to his now, she could feel his breath on her face. His stormy blue eyes were clear again, and looked at her with pained bewilderment. He must have noticed that the words falling from her lips were at odds with the closeness of her person. She was close enough that he needed but lean forward to kiss her, and yet she might as well have been a million miles away with what she was saying._

"_Don't deny it," she ordered. "You may not have said it, but you have thought it. Your feelings for me make me a target, but they also make you vulnerable. Those you hold dear could become ammunition for Wo Fat. He could meddle with us, and use us to his advantage. To get to you. Make us say and do things that will hurt you."_

_She turned away from him, hoping he would take hold of her, and pull her back in. Hoping he would see the falsity in her words and actions. He had insinuated that he couldn't trust her anymore upon finding out that she'd kept details of the Mangosta incident from him, yet now, of all times, he chose to take her at face value again. She didn't believe in any of the reasons she had mentioned in her explanation, except maybe the last one. Oh, they were all quite real, and equally true, but she didn't believe in ending their relationship. She didn't believe in walking away from something good without a fight; he should know that much about her. He didn't stop her, though. Perhaps his understanding of her inner workings was clouded by the heartbreak she'd just put them both through. _

_She turned back to him at the door, and saw that he was looking at her. His hands were curled into the desk so forcefully that it would soon draw blood. Her heart went out to him, or at least whatever was left of it did. She wanted nothing more than to take it all back, go over to him and lose herself in his embrace. She'd said it now, though. Everything he'd said to her, every concern, every doubt he'd raised about their relationship in the past couple of weeks. She hadn't meant a word of it, but he had, and she couldn't be with a man who didn't want her, or couldn't decide that he did without second-guessing himself every step of the way. _

_The mere fact that he held doubts hurt her so much, she thought it would be easier to let him go. He hadn't been able to send her away himself, though, and she'd hoped against hope that he would overcome his doubts if she left him. Now, instead, she had the final confirmation that they would have been doomed to fail anyway. Surely, a relationship could not persist if one of the involved doubted its legitimacy, its foundation, and its worthiness. _

Never the feelings involved, though_, she reminded herself. _He never said anything about our feelings not being true, or not running deep enough. Why won't he fight? Fight for me, please.

"_I love you, Steve. I always will."_

_With that, she left his office._

_End of Flashback_

Kono had been listening intently throughout the whole account. Her friend had become ever more agitated as the story just spilled out from her. She'd clearly bottled it up for too long, and, when pressured a little, couldn't keep a lid on her emotions anymore. Catherine was close to tears, she noticed, flushed and tense. The hand on the table was so tightly clenched, Kono wouldn't be surprised if her fingernails had drawn blood despite being carefully trimmed. She had been so intent on listening to Catherine that she didn't hear two pairs of familiar footsteps approach, only saw Catherine look up sharply just as her fiddling hand accidentally worked a button on her blouse loose, and the small diamond ring at the end of her intricate gold chain became visible.

_Engagement ring_, Kono's mind registered, even as her body started getting up as if to open up the field of sight between Catherine and Steve. Steve who'd just arrived at Kamekona's a few steps behind Danny, and who now stood still in shock. Catherine buttoned up her blouse again, and tucked the ring away, but the damage was done. A quick glance to the side, averting his head away from a scene that pained him, and Steve turned on his heel to leave. Danny didn't even protest when he took the Camaro.

If Catherine had been on the verge of tears after her retelling of the events in Steve's office, now she was crying. Chin was with her in a couple of steps, seemingly unsurprised by the news of her potential nuptials, sat down and wrapped his arms around her. He rubbed soothing circles on her back, while Danny and Kono just stood in front of them in shock at what had transpired. Danny made a few helpless gestures as he tried to figure out what to do next.

"Next," Ben's voice spoke up with a tired sort of detachment. "Catherine has to make a decision."

"Ben?"

"You've been keeping one foot each way, and have been torn up by it. You still love him. I get that, and I understand that it's not going away with a snap of your fingers. It's gonna take time, but this is the moment to decide which path you're going to follow. And I can't be around for that. Your decision mustn't be influence by my presence, or neither of us will ever be sure about it...", he explained, pressing his lips together. Then he added in a quiet, almost cynical tone. "My lunch hour is up anyway. You should probably return to base, too."

With that, he left them. He didn't look back.

"Well, I agree with him on one thing," Danny said, a bit miffed. "This needs to be sorted out. You and Steve need to talk this over, really talk. Decide what you two want when it all comes down to it."

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How Steve had made it home, he didn't know. The way he sat on the couch in his living room with nothing but his darkening thoughts and a bottle of beer to keep him company reminded him rather vividly of the day after he'd first seen Catherine with Ben Foster. Then he'd indulged in thinking back to a time when she'd still been his, and had stayed with him in this very house, filling it with her life and vibrancy. Now that was exactly what he was trying to avoid doing as he stared straight ahead yet seeing nothing.

He needed to get her out of his mind as well as any thought of a happy ending. She had chosen Ben as far as he was concerned. The ring may not have been on her finger, but the implications of the chain around her neck were clear. She hadn't said 'no', and acceptance was pending. His mind starting to sound like his partner ran his need to separate from that chapter of his life home in a rush. He had to stop thinking about her, caring about her. He had to cut out the part of his heart that was occupied by her, though he didn't expect to be left with much afterward.

Danny had been right in that his feeling made her a target. If he didn't love her, she wouldn't be a target. If he didn't love her, she'd be safe. If he didn't love her, she'd be free to start her new life without fear of repercussions from the likes of Wo Fat. He'd also be free. Without his feelings for her, it wouldn't hurt him so much that she hadn't said 'no'. He wouldn't wish that she'd say 'yes' to him instead, that she would come back into his arms and stay there forever. If he didn't love her, he wouldn't be fighting dreams and hopes of holding her in his arms once more, and never letting go again.

Left to his spiraling thoughts, Steve didn't notice the rest of the day go by and turn into night. Consequently, he didn't switch on the light when the sun faded into the horizon, leaving him in near total darkness. His eyes adjusted to the pale moonlight shimmering through his windows, but no sight or sound registered with the former SEAL until he heard a familiar knock on the door.

**End of chapter 9!**

**A/N**: Oh my, looks like there's a fight on their hands. At least we know what happened to make them break up, or do we?

I decided to go with a bit of both: a flashback and some explanatory verbal dialogue. The opportunity for a bit of Steve/Danny bromance was too good to pass up. Hope you liked it anyway.

On a private note (about the competition): I lost my sparring match, but since it was a two-person show, I got a silver medal as a memory nonetheless. I found the idea rather nice, and I'm glad about having gained the experience. I had fun, though afterward I basically crawled home. I wouldn't have missed it for the world, but I'm sorry it delayed the posting of this chapter.


	10. Over again

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Summary: **Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough.

**Pairings:** Steve/Catherine, some OCs mixed in for a little (or a lot of) drama, minor Danny/Gabby, Kono/Adam

**Warning:** Explicit content

**Chapter 10: Over again**

When he opened the door, she was there.

"I really don't want to talk right now," he said by way of explanation as he prepared to slam the door in her face.

"Well, tough," she responded emphatically, and stepped past him to go to the living room. He hadn't switched any lights on when he got up, wanting the house to be as dark as his mood. "Because now is just the right moment to talk about a number of things."

He followed her, but kept his distance. He could barely look at her. His hands were clenching and unclenching rhythmically against his sides. Fury and jealousy were still flushing his system as he thought about what he'd discovered that very afternoon. He didn't understand what she was doing here. She'd made her choice, hadn't she?! So what was there left to talk about?! She had chosen Foster for good, she should go to explain herself to him.

At the same time he couldn't fight how well she still fit into his house. She looked right at home; she looked like she belonged. He'd secretly adored this view of her, so comfortable and in-place in his family's home. Seeing her standing there made him want to go back to happier days. Days when he would've simply walked up to her and kissed her senseless. As it were, the urge was nearly impossible to suppress. Her tresses had grown out again, and she looked absolutely beautiful in the pale moonlight. Suddenly, his hands were clenching in order to fight a different instinct, the instinct to take what he considered to be his.

Like a slap in the face, he realized he needed her to leave. She'd been right all along; they couldn't go back and forth all the time. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He couldn't seem to physically make himself tell her to get out. Not when she was so close. He opened his mouth to try to speak again, but she beat him to it.

"I didn't know how to tell you," she admitted. "Or what to tell you. I can't seem to bring myself to say yes. I've thought about nothing else since he proposed. I told him I couldn't honestly say that I didn't... have feelings for you anymore. I couldn't do that to him. Marry him, I mean. He deserves someone who's with him all the way, and not looking back over her shoulder hoping to see you. I don't know what to tell either of you anymore. You're mad, I get it-"

"I'm not mad," Steve protested heatedly. "Why would I be mad? Because you're going to marry another guy after everything we've been through these last few months – not to mention the last seven years?! What reason do I have to be mad? I have no claim on you anymore, right?"

He started pacing, getting louder by the minute.

"Except, I thought maybe I did. All these months... Every time we spoke, you communicated that you cared, that I meant something to you, even now. But it was all a lie, wasn't it? You led me on, you let me believe that I still had a chance to fix us! You talked about our children!"

"Oh, because you are so different," she hissed back at him. "You pushed me away every single time despite openly reciprocating my feelings. You started that discussion when you spoke about your dream from the first night I was at your house. It was a glimpse of something I had hoped for. How was I supposed to resist that? And what about Valerie? You gave clear indications that you didn't consider us over, yet when a pretty blonde showed up, you didn't mind passing the time with her."

"We are just pals... Wait. Are you jealous?", he asked, almost amused.

"Yes!", she exclaimed, exasperatedly. Honestly.

He didn't know what to say to that. A thought came to him that made him shiver involuntarily.

"Steve-" A broken whisper. Her eyes were shining.

"Were you wearing it then?" he asked putting voice to his thought, his fear, and his voice was just as broken as hers as he made a vague gesture towards her neck where the engagement ring hung on a chain. "A couple of days ago in my office when we were talking about _our_ _children_. Were you wearing it already?"

She nodded. A single drop fell onto the carpet. Then another.

"Why?! Why would you do that to me? It's like you deliberately set out to hurt me."

That earned him a slap. And more tears.

"Don't you think I want this? That I want us?", she all but yelled at him. "Damn you, Steve, because I do! Do you hear me, I want you. I crave you. I love you!"

And then the tears wouldn't stop.

"I love you, too," he responded as all the fight left him. It was the first time he'd said it out loud, and even though she'd always known, her heart soared when she heard those words fall from his lips. They sounded sweeter than she'd imagined. Before reality had time to catch up with her, before their situation would make her heart come tumbling down from heaven and fall straight into the abyss, he was on her. His mouth devoured her. He pushed her mouth open and licked and sucked at her tongue and passionately bit her soft lips. Every time a kiss ended, he came back for more. He wouldn't give her time to breathe, time to think, lest she break away from him again.

It was fine with her. She didn't want to think. Thinking hurt, but this was bliss. All she wanted to do now was bask in this glorious heat he was spreading throughout her body. His hands were everywhere. On the back of her head, holding her to him as he kissed her. Tracing down the path of her throat and over her breast, kneading almost forcefully. She cried out in rapture. Then one hand went skimming down her side, her thigh, hooking underneath her knee and pulling it upwards to lay around his waist. She could feel his erection prominently now, and it made her clench in all the right places.

Suddenly, they couldn't wait; they wanted to be one again, to be swept away by that tidal wave of passion they'd been nurturing for close to seven years. They had been apart for so long, they couldn't be bothered with foreplay. There was no need to set the mood. The mood had been there the moment she'd walked through his door and they'd laid eyes on each other. They frantically ripped at each others clothes, unable to hold out much longer without feeling skin on skin. Every bit of skin they exposed was caressed, scratched, pinched, licked and bitten and sucked if it was within reach.

Finally, they were gloriously naked. They stood pressed together for a minute or an eternity, just feeling their bare limbs against each other. One of her legs around his waist, their sexes, abdomens and chests pressed against one another as they hugged tightly. Their faces not even millimeters apart, allowing their lips the barest of touches, and still passion would not be silenced and sense would not settle in.

With a swift, sure movement Steve gently lay her down on the carpet covering his hardwood floor. All she could feel was his heat, and all he could feel was her erratic heartbeat against his chest. He kissed the spot right above the musical noise as he thrust forward. Both groaned in satisfaction. At last they were one again. Her legs encased him tightly, leaving barely any room for movement, not that he had any intention of putting even the smallest distance between them. A piece of paper wouldn't fit between their bodies and that's how he liked it. Instead of thrusting, they rubbed against each other, kissing and nipping everything in reach until they grew tired of their game and went back to snogging. His hand wandered between their bodies, and her nails scratched harshly across his back in answer as the wave swept over them, carrying them away with it.

When some degree of consciousness returned to him, Steve rolled around until Cath was sprawled across his chest, her panting breath tickling his overheated skin. He kissed the top of her head, and she rose above him to look at him. Her gaze was foggy from bliss and warm with love as her eyes settled on his face. They both felt something poke them in the chest and looked down to where the only thing she was still wearing gleamed in the dark. Sense rushed back, and had Catherine tighten her grip on him as her eyes watered anew.

"We keep hitting obstacles," Steve murmured as he grasped hold of the ring.

"I love you," she said, and kissed him.

"I love you, too," he repeated his words from earlier when they came up for air, then kissed her nose, and ripped off the necklace on which she wore the ring. They inspected it quietly for a while, never separating, never moving at all. "Sometimes love is not enough."

He slid the ring on her finger.

"Why can't we work it out?", she asked, tears coming back. "When it comes right down to it, I want to be with you. It's been you for such a long time."

"You too," he murmured, reaching a hand out to wipe her tears away, but more just rolled down her cheeks. The hot, liquid drops hit his chest, and every single one felt like a rock. He raised his head to kiss her hair.

"Maybe I could ask for a transfer to Coronado, or back on the Enterprise. Once you've caught Wo Fat, you could come find me. You have had such good practice over the course of the years," she half-teased, half-stated.

She was grasping at straws, forgetting that he'd put another man's ring on her finger. She didn't want to part from him forever. Being apart hurt more than anything else. She could trust him to look after himself and come back to her, couldn't she? Danny, Chin, Kono and even Max – they'd all look after him. He was their family; he was her life. She couldn't and wouldn't give that up for a marriage that would never work. Not when she was so clearly in love with Steve. There was a long silence during which they simply looked at each other. He was tired of fighting her, fighting himself and his feelings for her. They hadn't waned or faded in over six months; they weren't ever going anywhere. He loved her, and he always would. Always; the word resounded through his being as he continued to look at her beautiful, crying face.

"I will always find you."

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She was still smiling when she came back to her and Ben's home in the middle of the night. She would have to face him tomorrow to give him his mother's ring back, but for now she chose to seek refuge in the memories of earlier that night. She'd talked to Steve, they'd made love, and even planned for the future. She had continued to cry; she hadn't seemed capable of stopping. She'd cried for him, for herself, for what they'd gone through. She'd cried for Ben and for their friends, and all the confusion and pain the two of them must have caused. He'd held her through it all, her head burrowed into the crook of his neck and his lips in her hair. One time he'd even lifted her head, and playfully licked at her cheek to make her giggle.

'Smooth, dog,' she'd teased him, making his chest rumble with laughter at her poorly executed pun on his SEAL moniker.

She smiled to herself as she made her way around the darkened apartment. She put her keys on the glass table in front oh the couch. It was the center piece of the living room furniture. She'd found it a bit ostentatious, but had said nothing as it did fit in with the rest rather well. She contemplated the table for another moment, then made a move to take Ben's engagement ring off her finger and put it next to her keys. That's when the lights were suddenly turned on. Catherine gave a small yelp, ring once more forgotten on her finger, when she saw Ben sit in the armchair across from her with a grim expression.

"You startled me," she told him when she'd calmed down a little.

"I take it by the late hour that your choice does not include me," Ben stated with cold anger, throwing a bunch of papers on the table. Upon closer inspection they turned out to be pictures. Quite a few of them were rather explicit."But did you really have to go fuck him to decide that?"

Catherine gasped. She picked up some of the printed pictures. The quality the printer could offer was good, and it was obvious these had been made with a professional digital camera. On the table, several showed her and Steve as they went at each other, but her eyes grew transfixed by one particular image in her hand. She let go of the other pictures to stare at this one. It had been from when he'd tried to cheer her up and stop her crying. The photographer had caught the exact moment on camera when his tongue had darted out to touch her cheek. He must have used a very good magnifying lens. She hadn't been able to see it, but the corner of his mouth had been drawn up as he grinned at his own actions.

"These are timestamped, Catherine," Ben informed her bitterly. "You lay on the floor with him for nearly an hour after you fucked him."

"You had me followed?!"

"No," he said. "These were sent to me by email this evening, and your reaction tells me they've not been doctored with. Not that I had much doubt in that regard in the first place."

"Ben," she sighed, braving herself for the discussion she had wanted to face rested in the morning.

"And with my mother's ring on your finger, too," he hissed as his eyes settled on her hand. "So, what was this stint with McGarrett?! One last doughnut before the diet?"

Catherine looked down at the ring on her finger. She and Steve had completely forgotten about it as they'd held each other tight. She'd been about to take it off and put it on the glass table when Ben had switched on the lights, then she'd completely forgotten about it again until Ben pointed it out to her. She studied the ring for a moment, before looking back up to Ben.

"No, it hadn't been there until... after." She braced herself to tell him the rest of the story, how Steve and not her had put the ring where it rested now on her finger.

That's when the door was broken down, and four masked men rushed in.

**End of Chapter 10!**

**A/N**: And it was just starting to look better...

**Future Warning:** There's going to be some violence in future chapters. The worst probably in the next one. Just to let you know.

**Posting Delay Notification:** Don't worry; it's not now. I just like to do these things in advance. Between June and end of September I will first be on vacation, then moving back to Germany from the UK, and then I'll be doing a three months internship that will keep me out at all ours of the day. Posting will therefore not be done regularly, or at least not as regularly as it is done at the moment. Thank you for your understanding.

**Future H50 fic plans:** I've got about 4-5 other stories mapped out in my head, and I've started writing on one. I could start posting around the end of this story (I like to have the first drafts of some chapter done before I start posting; it means less pressure for me), or I could start when I'm done with my crazy June-September holiday and obligations. Which way would you prefer it?


	11. What hurts the most

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Summary: **Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough.

**Pairings:** Steve/Catherine, some OCs mixed in for a little (or a lot of) drama, minor Danny/Gabby, Kono/Adam

**Warning:** Violence. I have never written a torture scene before, so I don't know if it's any good. I took Wo Fat's treatment of Steve as inspiration, so I can't claim much originality, but I hope it represents the impression I want to make. Also, language – if you don't like cusses, or dirty, crude talk, you might wanna skip over some of this chapter.

**Chapter 11: What hurts the most**

When Steve arrived on the scene, nearly frantic with worry and all but shoving other members of the force out of his way, Danny was waiting for him outside the apartment. The Jersey detective held up both his hands in a sign for Steve to stop, and, when Steve tried to shove past him as well, put them on his chest, and moved him sideways, then backwards against the wall of the hallway. He repositioned his hands on the man's shoulders as Steve continued to fidget in his grasp, trying to get away and inside the apartment.

"Steve? Hey. Hey, Steve!", Danny raised his voice to get SuperSEAL's attention. When his partner's eyes were finally focused on him, he raised one hand of his shoulder, and pointed his finger at his friend's face. "I think we can agree that it isn't a good idea if you go in there, man."

"Actually, I think it's a very good idea, so if you'll excuse me..."

As he made to leave for the front door, Danny's hand returned to its position on his shoulder, and the detective shoved Steve heavily against the wall. Danny knew he was playing with fire. An agitated Steve was always more dangerous to himself and, more typically, to a certain mainland cop who'd only come to this pineapple-infested island to be with his kid, and found himself starting to like it here. He considered himself lucky that Steve hadn't gone Ninja on his ass yet. Where his personal feelings were involved, the man wasn't squeamish about how he got his point across.

"You're too close to this, Steve. You're controlled by your emotions right now, and that's never a safe place to stand when one needs to be focused and logical. Going in there, you could contaminate the scene, or destroy evidence with the way you pace and fidget and otherwise act like a wounded animal. Kono and Chin are inside. They're canvassing the room, hell, they'll take apart the entire place if it means finding a clue, you know that. You're too close, you know that too."

Steve gave him a rebellious look.

"If you want me to recuse myself from this case, then-"

"I'm delusional, yeah, I know. Nobody is going to ask you that – well, maybe the governor will order us to, but we've ignored him before," Danny answered straight away with his typical note of sarcasm. "All I'm asking is that you stay out here while we handle the crime scene... Why are you shaking your head? You don't get to shake your head; this is the best course of action. You can't go in there, you-"

"I have to go, Danny." Steve's voice was even, and he'd stopped squirming in Danny's grasp. The detective realized that his friend was probably compartmentalizing everything as best as he could, and was likely convinced that he could act professionally. Danny even believed it himself, right up until Steve would see certain parts of the crime scene. Now it was Danny who was shaking his head emphatically at his partner. Letting the man into that room would be a horrible, horrible idea, and he wasn't about to just let him go, so when Steve moved towards the door again, Danny shoved him a little harder against the wall. His friend's bright blue eyes focused on him once more, and the look Danny received from them was cold enough to make a volcano shiver.

"You remember our first case?", Steve asked coolly. "Hands. Chest. Off."

Remembering perfectly what had happened to his finger during their first case together when he'd ignored a similar command from Steve McGarrett, Danny steadily raised his hands off his friend's chest. When Steve made another move for the door, instead of grabbing him again, Danny stepped in front of him, blocking his path. His hands were still raised in an appeasing gesture, but every time Steve attempted to sidestep him, Danny would move with him. Their little dance was being watched quizzically by the police officers hurrying around the crime scene, though neither Danny nor Steve cared much at the moment.

"Danno...", Steve warned him quietly.

"Steve."

Steve sighed.

"You don't understand, Danny."

"Oh, I think I understand perfectly."

"No, you don't. Wo Fat... A couple of hours ago, we... Catherine came to my house to talk about what happened on the beach, and we... connected. Wo Fat grabbed her because of that."

"Connected? Is that what they're calling it these days," Danny asked, his voice semi-amused despite the seriousness of the situation. Steve's shocked face was reward enough. For what Danny believed to be the first time that night, he had his partner's full attention. "Yeah, I know. So do Chin and Kono and Duke and by tomorrow probably the entire Honolulu Police Department – why do you think half the precinct is here to help us work the case?! There were pictures in there."

Steve was making a good impression of a fish out of water with how his mouth fell open at this revelation.

"Don't worry. I had Kono confiscate those pictures first thing after taking pictures of the crime scene. Nobody is getting their hands on them, but there's probably gonna be some gossip for the next couple of months-"

"I couldn't care less about stupid gossip, Danny. Where did those photos come from? Did that attorney have her followed? Where is he, anyway?", Steve asked, having found his voice again. Danny raised his hands a little higher as Steve's gaze scanned the hallway for the boyfriend, but unable to locate him amongst the neighbors who'd come out of their apartments when they had heard the commotion. He then snapped his fingers to get the man's attention. Steve's gaze returned to Danny.

"According to his preliminary statement, the photos were sent to him via email that same night, and he and Catherine had a bit of a fight about them when four masked attackers entered the premises. He couldn't give Duke more information, because the paramedics arrived and took him away. He was shot in the shoulder. It went through, and he should be fine, but they had to take him to the hospital."

Steve nodded, accepting that for the moment, but making a mental note to visit the guy later, and find out what happened in detail. For now, he needed to get a look at that crime scene. From what he had heard so far, Catherine was taken, and therefore probably still alive. For now. The sooner he could find her, the better were her chances of survival. He couldn't let her die at the hands of that psychopath. For the nth time that night, he took a step towards the door, and again, Danny stepped in the way. Steve actually growled low in his throat this time.

"You want in there, fine, but it's gonna be on my terms, understood," Danny said, offering his friend a truce of sorts. "You're gonna be calm, act professionally, and not touch anything. You'll stand in a corner, and let us do the work, got it?"

Steve took a good long look at his partner's face, and knew he would not be swayed. If they both persisted in their demands, they'd be stuck out here till morning light. The unstoppable force hitting the immovable object. So, instead of continuing this discussion, he nodded, accepting Danny's terms. The detective looked at him uncertainly for another second, but they'd settled on common ground, and now Danny couldn't refuse him entrance. No matter how much he wished Steve would simply wait outside. He pointed a finger at the SEAL's face for good measure, before turning around to lead the way inside.

What Steve found inside the apartment, had him inhale sharply. The place was a mess. The cushions on the couch were overturned, and strung across the room. The floor was wet from where a vase had shattered, white lilies lying on the ground. Less than a feet away it was wetter still, spotting a small pool of blood that had Steve's stomach twist and knot. What must have once been a glass table was completely smashed to pieces, smears of blood all over it and everything around it. There was a bullet hole on the far right side of him, and someone from CSI was currently picking at it to get the bullet out. Steve could make out a couple of small shreds of clothing that Chin was bagging as they came in. They were of the same color as the service khakis Catherine had been wearing that night.

Danny was observing his partner carefully as he let him take in the crime scene. The place was a bloody mess, literally, and there was no way of telling who's blood it was on the floor until lab results came back, or they managed to get a more detailed statement out of the attorney. (Danny wasn't going to tell Steve this, but Ben had offered to stay, and give more details – the paramedic had laughed at the idea, and not in a good way.) He watched closely as Steve hunched forward placing his hands on his knees, and taking a couple of deep breaths as if to fight nausea. He stepped up to his friend, and put a friendly, gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Do you want to get out?"

Steve only shook his head.

"Steve, we can process this scene without you. You don't have to see this."

The only answer he got was another shake of Steve's head, and that he straightened up. Before Danny could venture further, Kono spoke up.

"I think I got something." Five 0 turned their eyes to their youngest colleague who had been working in the general area of the shattered table. She was holding something up in front of her face, and taking a picture of it with her cell phone. Then she got up from her crouching position, and turned to them. Chin joined them to look at her finding. It was a small piece of glass from the table, but the bloody fingerprint on it painted it in a potentially beautiful red color. "If this isn't Catherine's, we might have one of our attackers."

"Good job. Run that," Steve deadpanned.

"I've got something else that might help, but you won't like it," Fong said, looking at Kono as he came to join them. He held up the bullet he'd dug out of the wall and bagged. In the well-lit room nobody could miss its golden shimmer. Kono stepped from one foot to the other in frustration.

"Last time it was Adam's lawyer," Danny said. "Who could have betrayed him this time?"

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The hospital was its usual chaotic self when they arrived. The personnel knew them so well by now that they didn't even have to show the receptionist their badges, or ask for information, before she gave them the room number of the gunshot patient. Nurse Betty even cracked a joke about how she was surprised – and glad – that it wasn't one of them this time around. Steve and Danny both gave her hesitant smiles. They could appreciate humor, but the situation was too dramatic to enjoy a joke before the case was solved. Betty realized that something was amiss quickly, apologized for being out of line, and got up to lead them to the room instead.

She left them at Ben Foster's room, informing them that the wound wasn't major, and that, judging by the stress he'd put the nurses through, he was fine. They nodded their thanks, and turned back to the door. Danny rocked forth and back on the ball of his feet while he allowed Steve to stare at the door for a couple of minutes, before urging him to get a move on already. They were on a schedule. Steve, broken out of his reverie, opened the door without further ado, and without looking at his concerned partner.

Upon entering, they found Foster half-sitting, half-lying on his hospital bed, staring out the window on the opposite side of the door. He looked over at them when they came in, and something passed over his face that made Steve and Danny uneasy. They couldn't place it, and a moment later it was gone. The attorney's face became inscrutable as he asked them if they had any news regarding Catherine's whereabouts.

"No, unfortunately not," Danny answered him. He and Steve had agreed that he should do the talking. It was all part of the 'you-stand-in-a-corner-and-let-the-professionals-h andle-it' deal they'd made in front of the apartment Foster shared with Catherine. "Actually, we came here to ask you for some details on the attack. Maybe there's a vital clue that we missed."

"What is he doing here?", Ben asked, nodding his head in Steve's general direction without taking his eyes off Danny. His voice held only barely veiled contempt. The Jersey detective hadn't really expected anything else. The pictures had been rather explicit; he was glad they'd already been gone when Steve arrived at the scene, but of course Ben would bring them up. He should have known that, and made sure his partner waited outside – not that Steve would have been bloody likely to agree to that. Still, he was just about to ask Steve if he could give them a moment when the aforementioned SEAL stepped forward, forcing Ben to look at him after all.

"I'm here, because you let Cath get kidnapped from right under your nose, and I'll be damned if I don't do my best to bring her home safely even if it means talking to you." It was the first time Steve had spoken since they'd gotten into Danny's car to drive over here. His partner had already been worried when SuperSEAL didn't insist on driving himself. When Danny had told him to leave the talking to him, he hadn't even objected. Just a nod of agreement, not even looking at Danny, but still staring out the window.

"You're the reason they're after her anyway, right? So don't you dare pin this on me, McGarrett," Ben snapped back angrily. "Maybe you shouldn't have let her go after you screwed her behind my back. Then she wouldn't have been home to be kidnapped, or they would have taken her from under your nose. How long has that been going on anyway?! Have you two screwed with me since the beginning?!"

Steve was about to answer when Danny felt the need to get in between this fight.

"Okay, can we maybe postpone this delightful topic, because we're digressing, and fighting amongst each other isn't helping Catherine at all. She's out there, potentially still alive. If we want her back that way, we have to move fast."

Ben nodded. Steve looked away, shame written all over his face.

"Yeah, course. Anything to help you find Cathy."

Danny could feel Steve tense at the mention of Catherine's nickname. "Okay, uhm, maybe you could walk us through it. Your place is in quite a state. Can you describe what happened?"

The look on Ben's face turned thoughtful at this, and he took a long time to answer. He seemed to be going through it in his mind in order to recall it for them. The attorney took a deep breath, before he spoke.

"Cathy and I were having an argument – if you have seen the apartment, you know why," he started out, his voice neutral, but his gaze burned into Steve with an angry intensity. The SEAL met his gaze evenly. What had happened between him and Catherine had certainly not been in good taste, so to speak, but he would not be cowed by the attorney's rage. The man deserved to unleash it on him, and Steve at least owed him to face it all head on. They stared at each other for a few uncomfortable seconds that had Danny squirming in their silence.

"Uh, yeah, we... saw. And if we hadn't, your argument with Steve moments ago would have told me everything anyway. What happened then?", the Jersey detective urged Foster on.

"We were in the middle of the fight when the door was broken down, and four men rushed in. They went straight for Cathy. She threw the first one over her shoulder and into the table, and it shattered. She smashed a vase over the head of the next one, and kicked him over the couch. The third one slammed her against the wall, and slapped her hard enough to make her fall. He knelt over her, trying to grab her, but she banged his head against the wall once or twice."

"Where were you?", Steve wondered.

"I... I froze, okay. When they came in, I froze," Ben admitted guiltily. "I shouldn't have. I have been trained for extreme situations, and it certainly wasn't my first barbeque, but I couldn't think. They say training stays with you, but I guess it was just too long ago."

"Wait, what do you mean it wasn't your first barbeque?", Danny asked, surprised. "I thought you were a lawyer in the Navy, too."

Foster snorted.

"You can imagine how many people have tried to shoot me, then?"

Danny thought about it, realized how many times he'd wanted to shoot his lawyer, and shrugged it off. Steve wasn't so forgiving. His voice, starting out as a whisper, rose with every syllable as the accusation flew out of him.

"You should have helped her. She needed you. Cath is a good fighter, but four are too many to take on alone for anyone." They had always avoided talking to each other too much, because they'd been aware that it would probably end in an argument or worse. Today, however, Steve's blood was boiling. Cath had insisted she go back to hers and Foster's apartment to tell him in person about her decision, and he had agreed that it was the right thing to do. Now, only hours after she'd left his arms, she was in the hands of Wo Fat and his butchers. She was probably being tortured at this very moment, maybe dead, and Steve was beyond reason or consideration in his worry. He couldn't believe the man hadn't fought with her, had just let her get taken. "She needed you."

"Don't you think I know that?!", Foster exclaimed loudly, and Danny could see this thing go south. One woman between two men was never a good idea. "Don't you think I'm cursing myself to hell and back over not being able to save her. When I finally moved, it was too late. One had moved over to me. He pulled out a gun and fired. The shot hit me in the shoulder. I didn't act when I should have, and when I could have, I was... useless to her, and you think I'm not blaming myself for that already. Go ahead, yell curses at me. It couldn't be worse than what I have been telling myself since I saw the gun."

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"You don't have to do this, cuz," Chin reminded her as they came to a halt in front of the apartment they had been looking for. Kono snorted derisively, because, yes, she did have to do this. She knew it, and Chin knew it, too. She wouldn't let anyone else do this even if the governor himself ordered her to hand the warrants over. She turned to look at her cousin, then at the HPD officers that followed behind him. Duke was amongst them; he nodded at her, both to show her that they had Five-0's back, and that he approved of her show of integrity. Officers were not supposed to work on cases they had an emotional involvement with, but everyone in the force knew how easily that line blurred. Some cases became personal even if they involved total strangers. This was just another one of those blurry days.

Kono turned back to the door and knocked decisively.

"Police, open up," she announced.

The door opened almost immediately to reveal a confused looking Adam. He looked from her to Chin to the police officers crowding the hallway. His gaze settled back on her face. Kono apologized without uttering a single word, and handed him the paperwork. Adam stepped aside without even taking a look at them, declaring that he had nothing to hide, and that they could search to their hearts content. Kono closed her eyes for a second, wishing that it were that simple. She told him to read the second warrant. He frowned at her, but did as she asked.

"This is a warrant for Michael's arrest," he stated incredulously.

"I'm sorry, Adam, but his fingerprint was at the scene. We could connect it to his name quickly, because it is in the system from his time in jail. Blood was also found. We will compare it with his, and if it matches... I'm so sorry."

"What happened?", Adam asked when he saw how distraught Kono was. A look at Chin and the other police officers told them that this was something close to them, something personal. They were searching every inch of his place with almost obsessive attention to detail. Did something happen to a member of the force? What kind of trouble had his little brother gotten himself into? He had said he was done with crime; he had said that he was happy with the new direction of the family business, that he never wanted to spend another day in jail, but he had also been evasive, and gone out regularly. He'd had the suspicion that his brother was hiding something, but what had he gotten involved in?

"Catherine was kidnapped from her apartment," Kono told him quietly. "Judging by the state of that place, she put up a good fight, and we suspect that at least one of her attackers was injured. There was a bloody fingerprint on a shard of glass. I'm sorry, Adam, but it traced back to Michael. Is he here? Have you noticed any injuries on him?"

"I-"

Before Adam could formulate an answer, the man in question came into the room, a police officer holding on to his arm.

"What's this, then. Can't a man take a piss in peace anymore?", he asked, irritated. There were cuts all over the right side of his face, and some bruises too. "Your friends on the force practically dragged me from the bathroom, Kono."

"That's because you're under arrest for aggravated assault and kidnapping," Chin told him. "You may also have shot someone, but we will have to verify that. You're coming with us."

Kono told Adam to come to headquarters later. They cuffed and led Michael Noshimuri out of the building. He came quietly until they had almost reached the police car he was supposed to ride to headquarters in. Almost there, Michael slammed his elbow into his guard's stomach, and kneed him in the face, then made a run for it. Kono and Chin ran after him, before the police could open fire. They needed him alive to tell them where Catherine was being held. It might be their only chance of saving their friend. The cuffs gave Michael a disadvantage as they hindered his balance while running. He got a few blocks nonetheless, before Kono caught up with him, and he suddenly turned around to kick her across the temple. She went down with an oof, and Michael followed his assault up with a kick to the ribs that had her rolling over.

Kono quickly got up, before he could kick her again. She did a skipping sidekick, and as he tried to step out of the way, his arm caught the brunt of the attack. He groaned in pain, and Kono could see blood leaking into his long-sleeved shirt. Her question where he got that wound remained unanswered as Michael retaliated with a turning kick. Kono ducked under it, then slammed her flat hand up to raise Michael's leg, and make him lose balance. He fell to the ground face first. Kono was on him in a second. Since he had come quietly before, they'd cuffed his hands at the front. Now she freed his arms, only to bind them again behind his back. By the time she was done, Chin had reached them.

"You okay, cuz?"

"Ask him."

"I have other things to which I'd rather have his answers."

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_(Warning: torture scene starts here)_

She was usually quick to wake up, but she could feel the dizziness clouding her mind as she slowly regained consciousness. The first thing she became aware of was a major headache. The next thing was that her arms where in an unusual and quite uncomfortable position raised above her body. Then she realized that she was not standing under her own power, but partially suspended from the ceiling. That was why her arms were in that odd position; they were bound together, and she was basically hanging from them. Her arms began to hurt more, the more she regained consciousness, and her wrist were sore from being chained. Her whole body ached from the semi-suspended position it was in, and must have been in for quite a while.

Once the pain had fully registered in her mind, sound came back. She could hear some clanking close by, and hushed voices in the background. One voice stood out. She recognized it, but her addled mind couldn't place it, but she knew the person it belonged to. The voice was louder than the others and coming somewhere from her left. Its tone was soft, almost pleading. Panic gripped her. Had they gotten Ben chained up here, too. Was he the one who was pleading for something, perhaps their release. She tried to open her eyes to see who it was, but when she did the world swam. It was just a puzzling picture of dark and colored blots. It made her head hurt even more, but she forced herself to blink a couple of times to see if her sight would return with a little exercise.

"Ah, LT Rollins, finally ready to join us, I see," a mocking voice greeted her for her effort. That voice she could place immediately. She had heard it only one other time, yet she would never get it out of her head again after that phone call. Her blurry vision cleared, and she could make out a tall, tanned Asian man in a well-tailored suit. A man she'd been on the look-out for for several months now, and who had, thus far, eluded her. A man she'd recognize anywhere. In front of her, missing his suit jacket, but still wearing his finely embroidered vest, was the man who'd had John McGarrett killed, captured and tortured Steve in North Korea, and come to murder his mother, too.

Wo Fat.

"Ah, Wo Fat, finally stopped hiding like a coward, I see," she answered, and got slapped across the face for her trouble. She would have probably made a joke about how he hit like a girl if the voice hadn't spoken up in that moment, telling him to stop. Catherine, awake now, could finally figure out where the voice had come from, precisely, and turned to her side to find a woman cuffed to a metal chair, but alive. Someone had put a hood over her head that only had a slit at the height of the eyes to watch what was happening in front of her. Catherine wondered if they had apprehended their next victim before changing the plan and grabbing her instead. Catherine would have pitied the poor girl as she was clearly to be made to watch this, but she found it hard to evoke even a shred of sympathy in herself as she knew that she would be sharing the other victims' fates. She just didn't have it in her, and that had shame spark in her for a moment. Then the woman spoke.

"Let her go, Wo Fat," the woman demanded calmly. She sounded familiar, but Catherine couldn't place her voice. Her head was still dizzy from the hit it had received. "She has got nothing to do with this. It's me you want."

"I have you, and this has nothing to do with you. McGarrett has interfered once too often with my plans. This is about punishing him, and what better way than through the woman he loves."

No sooner had he said it than Catherine felt the first punch land on her side. When she felt his fist make contact with her skin, she looked down and realized that her uniform blouse was open. So she, and later Steve, could better see the bruises, no doubt. He hit her again, stepping around to get to her stomach. She tensed up to prepare for the blow. It wouldn't hurt less, but she was well-trained, and if they took most of the hit, her softer internal organs might remain less scathed. She wouldn't be able to keep this up though, and while the other woman's call to leave her alone were appreciated, they were also distracting. Every blow felt like a brick falling on her from a height. He struck mostly on her stomach and ribs until she was sure she heard one or a few of them crack.

He didn't strike her face again, which she found odd, but certainly no reason to complain. He did, however, work a couple of kicks in that send her swinging. The muffled voices in the background had been two Asian men who came forward to steady her again every time she was kicked. The swinging made her wrist get chaffed by the chains, and soon enough the soreness in her wrists evolved into a never-ending burn, and blood was running down her arms. The muscles of her abdomen were aching from all the tensing they'd done, but Catherine wouldn't let the pain get in the way of her chances to avoid greater injuries. At least not yet. She could feel herself tire, though, and knew it was only a question of time before she would be unable to defend herself even this much. The other captive had shut up when she realized her words only spurred Wo Fat on. To hit harder, faster, and in the places it hurt most. Catherine had given up on trying to identify the unknown woman. She couldn't get her brain to work properly to figure it out.

"You know," Wo Fat chatted with her as he took a break for some coffee. "I should inform you that I haven't done this in a while. The other women were only a message after all, and I'm a very busy man, though I must say I like Adam's style. You are the first person I have personally tortured since McGarrett escaped me, so in a way, you two are quite connected through this experience."

"Ah, so you had delegated with the other victims. Were they not worth your personal attention, or were you just busy?! I guess I should feel special. Lucky me," she hissed angrily. "It's just like a threesome. Always wanted to know how it would feel like to have two guys work their magic on me. You're a bloody disappointment, though."

She wasn't quite sure were that had come from, especially since she didn't normally talk like that anyway – not that she wasn't used to it from other sailors. She really shouldn't be provoking him, but then again, he was going to torture and kill her anyway, so she didn't really have much to lose. The worst he could do, was to prolong her agony, but that would also give Steve more time to find her. Thinking about it logically, she concluded that it was as much of a win-win situation as she could hope for in her position.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, LT?", Wo Fat asked with smirk, though by the expression on his face she could tell he was a bit miffed. "McGarrett wasn't nearly as crude as you."

"Yeah, well, he's a gentleman through and through. And you know how it is. The girls are way worse than the boys," she replied nonchalant, a smirk plastered on her lips. If she was going to die, she would go down fighting the only way she could at the moment. With taunts and jibes, and who knew, maybe the quill was sharper than the sword.

"Perhaps we should take her literally, sir," one of his gorillas suggested, leering at her.

Catherine gulped. It wasn't like she hadn't been expecting this. In fact, she had been surprised it had taken them so long to get to this idea, and she had been given training in regards to this possibility as rape was a likely occurrence should she ever be captured. She'd never imagined being captured in the States, though, and she wasn't as prepared as her instructors would probably want her to be. No one ever could be ready for something like this. She was looking at Wo Fat who looked her right back in the eye, and she knew he could see all the fear and the shame that were already building up in her. She was quivering, and the shackles were probably the only thing keeping her upright at the moment. Even if she hadn't been tied up, she would hardly be able to fight them off in her condition.

She was completely at their mercy, and it looked like the pervert was going to make good on his word. He'd approached until he was standing right behind her. She could feel him press his groin against the curve of her ass, one hand sneaking around to the inside of her thigh while the other moved up to her breast and squeezed. Catherine blinked away the tears; she would not give them the satisfaction. Instead, she took a calming breath, before she smashed the back of her head against the guys nose. The chains allowed her some movement, so she turned around, and followed up with a kick to the groin that wasn't nearly as strong as she would have wanted it to be. Nonetheless, he backed away from her slightly crouched, and wiping the blood from his lips.

"Bitch!", he cursed her as his fist connected with her jaw. Catherine would have lost her balance, and would have crumbled to the floor if she hadn't been suspended from the ceiling. "You didn't have trouble spreading your legs for McGarrett earlier, slut, with your fiancé waiting for you at home."

"So you were the guy with the camera, huh?", Catherine asked. "Who were you following – me or him?"

"Him, of course, bitch. There was a regrettable lack of fucking in his life since you left, so your floor gymnastics really made my day, honey."

"Glad to be of service. Must really commend you on the pictures. They're beautiful. Mind making me some copies," she spat out.

"If you can be of service again, maybe...", he leered, and approached her again, clearly forgetting what had only just happened to him. Catherine grabbed hold of her chains, and used them for leverage. She would have kicked him in the stomach with both feet, but Wo Fat was on her, probably foreseeing her intentions, turned her around, and held a long, thin, metallic cylinder to her skin. Instantly, her muscles convulsed as white-hot pain shot through her entire system. Every muscle in her body felt like it was on fire as the currents wrecked her helpless form. Catherine couldn't suppress the gut-wrenching scream that tore from her lips as she threw back her head. The convulsions lasted for a few seconds longer than the current, so that she didn't immediately realize when Wo Fat had moved away from her. When the tenseness finally left her, she came to slowly. She had to look around for her tormentor, until she realized he had gone over to sit the unwilling onlooker back up after she'd overthrown her chair.

_Apparently, I wasn't the only one shocked_, her brain thought with a perverted sense of amusement and cynicism.

"Leave her alone," he was saying. "I'll make sure not even McGarrett will want her back."

Without deigning his other hostage with another look, he came back up to her, and shocked her again. This time she was prepared to feel the currents rushing through her body, and managed not to scream as he touched the electrical rod to her stomach. Over the course of the next several hours, her vision blurred, her hearing became unable to overcome the loud rush of her blood, and her muscles convulsed so often that she lost the ability to tell when he would put the rod away to keep her alive a little longer as he let her body rest, or went on to simply beat her to the best of his abilities. She barely felt the beatings anymore; her pain receptors were too busy with her aching muscles and the liquid heat running through her veins, the shaking and the burn marks left on her purple bruised skin. She was dimly aware of the clinking of two beer bottles when pervert and gorilla No. 2 were left to watch her as Wo Fat disappeared for a while. She would have taunted his retreating back, for no matter what he did to her body, he couldn't break her spirit, but she'd lost the ability to speak a while ago. Or maybe she just didn't have the energy. She took somewhat notice of the other captive calling her name, but was completely unable to give the woman the attention she demanded. She was just so tired, and Wo Fat would soon be back for more. She just wanted to close her eyes, and feel nothing.

_Maybe this is what it feels like to wish for death_, she wondered, then chastised herself for even thinking that. She didn't want to die. She wanted this to end, and go back home. She wanted Steve to find her, and tell her everything would be alright. She wanted to crawl into his arms and stay put in their safety for the rest of her life. Pervert was right, she concluded. She was a horrible girlfriend to Ben, but she couldn't help it. This situation brought out all her feelings, and when she spent a semi-conscious moment thinking about Ben holding her, she didn't feel very safe. She didn't feel comforted, only angry. _Why do I feel angry?_

She tried to remember.

_(Flashback)_

"_And with my mother's ring on your finger, too," he hissed as his eyes settled on her hand. "So, what was this stint with McGarrett?! One last doughnut before the diet?"_

_Catherine looked down at the ring on her finger. She and Steve had completely forgotten about it as they'd held each other tight. She'd been about to take it off and put it on the glass table when Ben had switched on the lights, then she'd completely forgotten about it again until Ben pointed it out to her. She studied the ring for a moment, before looking back up to Ben._

"_No, it hadn't been there until... after." She braced herself for the repercussions of that half-truth, but she wasn't going to make it worse by telling him that it had been Steve who'd put it there._

_That's when the door was broken down, and four masked men rushed in. They took no notice of Ben, but went straight at Catherine. In her shock, she let the first one grab her and yank her to him without a fight. When her self-preservation instinct caught up with what was going on in the middle of the yank, and long before her conscious mind realized she needed to act, she used the strength of his pull to ram her elbow into his midsection. Taking a step forward, she slammed her other elbow sideways against his temple, then grabbed his arm, and threw him over her shoulder. He smashed right through that ostentatious glass table, making shards fly everywhere, cut through her clothes and some of her skin. _

_Barely noticing a shell-shocked Ben still standing in the corner, she went over to a small wooden dresser, grabbed the vase standing on top, and in turning back to face her assailants slammed it across the next guy's head. She then grabbed onto his ears to pull his face down at the same time as she raised her knee to meet it, then used her foot to push him over the couch. The first guy was just getting up again when number three tried to pull out a gun. Catherine slammed her foot down on his hand in a front kick, hearing it crunch underneath her oxford shoes with a twisted satisfaction. She picked up the gun, but before she could use it, her distraction cost her dearly when the last assailant used the time to punch her in the gut, then throw her into the opposite wall. He slapped her across the face hard enough to make her fall to the floor sideways along the wall, and start off a whistling noise in her ears. When he made to grab her, she used this position to her advantage, and bashed his head against the wall, before scrambling away, and getting up. _

_Her first attacker was standing again, though not very securely and clearly dizzy. Another was was cradling his broken hand, and one was lying on the floor, holding his head. She thought she could see the man who'd gotten the vase wrecked in his face as a blurry pair of black boots in the periphery of her sight, and assumed he was still down. No one else had pulled out a gun yet. All in all, she didn't count her chances too badly as she held them at gunpoint. She instructed Ben to call the police. That, at least, he could do, even though he'd been no bloody help during the fight. She was dimly aware of Ben talking on the phone, telling them about the attack. Then she heard a dull thud, and felt a sudden pain in the back of her head, and the last thought she had before she lost consciousness, was that the fourth guy must have gotten her._

_(End of Flashback)_

She was angry, because he hadn't done anything. During the fight, he might have been too shocked – though he had been Navy, dammit – but what about afterward?! Had he been distracted by the phone call, and trusted her to look after these guys, or had he not stopped them because he had been angry with her, and thought this served her right?! She didn't know, and the scary thing was, that she wouldn't put it past him. He had been so angry. Anger was understandable, but something in his eyes had made her uneasy. Could he have been angry enough to _let_ her be kidnapped?

She didn't know. Wo Fat came back.

"Get her down. The LT is going on a little road trip," he ordered, then turned to the person tied to the chair. "You might want to say your goodbyes now. You will not see her again in this lifetime."

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For such a prestigious government program, the lighting truly sucked. Or maybe there was conscious thought behind the whole thing. The hallway was basked in an eerie blue light and lots of shadows. He'd left Kono behind at the table computer. He couldn't look at her right now. The evidence she'd presented him with was back-breaking. The oddities in behavior, the injury on his arm, the bloody fingerprint, with his own blood no less. There was nothing to say to that, no argument to sustain his innocence. He couldn't believe that he was going to the interrogation room, because McGarrett's woman had been kidnapped.

He could see the man a ways ahead of him. He hadn't noticed him in return yet, standing as he was facing the door behind which the interrogation room lay. The SEAL had crossed his arms over his chest, his back was ramrod straight, every muscle in his body tensed up to the point it must be hurting him, but it was probably also the only thing that kept him from pacing. Or kicking in that blasted door that separated him from the interrogation. He was tapping his foot impatiently. His jaw was set, his fingers were curled into his skin.

When McGarrett finally heard him approach, he turned his head ever so slightly in his direction and frowned. Clearly, the man hadn't expected to see him here, or, at least, not without a horde of lawyers and perhaps the governor himself. He was a bit surprised himself that the governor wasn't already visiting Five-0 with how close they were to this case, but they had finally found a lead, so maybe he was cutting them some slack. Or he knew that the four apocalyptic riders wouldn't stop them from pursuing Wo Fat. Through his little brother. Now he sighed, glad that McGarrett was out here, and not in there.

"I want to talk to him," he said without preamble. "Maybe I can get him to cooperate."

McGarrett's raised eyebrow that showed how dubious he found that, but he didn't let that deter him, and went straight for the door. McGarrett nodded in its direction, and spoke.

"It's locked."

He nodded, and knocked. He could hear the lock behind turned, and the exasperated sigh that flew out of the opening door a moment later. Detective Williams was already half-way through a rant about how he wouldn't let McGarrett anywhere near their suspect when the man saw who was standing in front of the door. A surprised 'oh', a shrug, and a few steps later, he was inside, and Detective Williams had locked the door once more. Chin Ho Kelly was also in the room, and both he and his little brother were giving him strange looks. Danny turned around to the cuffed man, and shrugged again.

"Talk to your big brother for a little bit, then, if you don't wanna talk to us," he suggested. "You might wanna tell him everything, 'cause I don't know how much longer SuperSEAL outside will be content to remain there. And there's a reason I'm not letting him in of my own free will, because he would tear you apart, limb by limb, to find out where you took the woman he loves."

When he got nothing but silence, Williams held up his hands in surrender.

"Okay, in that case you might wanna tell your brother what floral arrangements you'd prefer for your funeral. Just saying."

Nothing but silence, then his little brother looked at him.

"And you, Adam, here to threaten me, too? What are you gonna do – disinherit me? Like there's anything left of our family business."

"Our family business is doing well, Michael. You'd see that, too, if you'd ever pay attention when I tell you about it. I'm doing this for you. Turning our business legit, so that we walk with our head held high."

"So that you can proudly screw that bitch from the force, you mean."

Before anyone could react to that, three knocks on the door called them outside. Resisting the temptation of using Michael Noshimuri as a punching bag for how he talked about his cousin, Chin made his way over to unlock the door, only to find said woman in front of it. McGarrett was still leaning against the wall.

"Speak of the devil, and she appears," Michael taunted, but everyone ignored him this time.

"I got news," Kono announced. "They found Catherine."

**End of chapter 11!**

**A/N**: Oh, poor Catherine. Poor Steve. What will he do if she is dead? Is she dead? What happened to her?


	12. The truth is but one

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Summary: **Wo Fat is on the loose and looking for a way to destroy Steve. He decides the best way is through Catherine, even if they're not together anymore – because sometimes love is not enough.

**Pairings:** Steve/Catherine, some OCs mixed in for a little (or a lot of) drama, minor Danny/Gabby, Kono/Adam

**Warning:** Language – if you don't like cusses, or dirty, crude talk, you might wanna skip over some of this chapter.

**Jodiesto:** I was wondering if you could elaborate on your review of the last chapter. If there was something wrong with it, please tell me so I can do better in the future.

**Chapter 12: The truth is but one (and invisible to the mortal eye)**

"Our family business is doing well, Michael. You'd see that, too, if you'd ever pay attention when I tell you about it. I'm doing this for you. Turning our business legit, so that we walk with our head held high."

"So that you can proudly screw that bitch from the force, you mean."

Before anyone could react to that, three knocks on the door called them outside. Resisting the temptation of using Michael Noshimuri as a punching bag for how he talked about his cousin, Chin made his way over to unlock the door, only to find said woman in front of it. McGarrett was still leaning against the wall.

"Speak of the devil, and she appears," Michael taunted, but everyone ignored him this time.

"I got news," Kono announced. "They found Catherine."

Total silence would have fallen over the Five-0 task force and their guest if it hadn't been for the chuckle coming from within the interrogation room and the dull thump as Steve slid down the wall, and fell onto the ground in a heap of arms and legs. There was no expression on his face as he held his head loosely with both hands, and shook his head in defiance that Catherine could be gone. At the sound Kono turned around mentally kicking herself for the way she had delivered the news.

"Duke called. She's in really bad shape. They're taking her to the hospital now."

That made everyone's head snap to attention. Steve got up in a rush, inadvertently shrugging off Danny who had knelt beside him to put a hand on his friend's shoulder in comfort. The Jersey detective didn't mind too much in light of the good news, and jumped to his feet himself. Steve's eyes were fixated on Kono who nodded at him before he'd even opened his mouth to ask the question that burned on his tongue.

"She's alive?", Steve breathed out anyway. Kono just kept nodding as Steve closed his eyes, slapping his hands over his face. His shoulders were hunched, tense, and he was trembling; they couldn't tell whether it was relief or anxiety or anger. Danny finally managed to place a hand on Steve's shoulder, and left it there. He used it to turn his partner to face him. Steve's hands dropped away from his face, and Danny could see how shiny his eyes were. The former SEAL slumped against the wall again, leaning his forehead against it, too, for good measure, and blinked a couple of times to get rid of the tears threatening to spill over. He would not cry in front of his team, but Danny saw that a single tear found its way down his shadowed cheek anyway. The smile that kept tugging at the corner of Steve's lips told Danny that it was relief, pure, unadulterated relief rushing through his system. "She's alive."

"Well, what are you standing here for, lover boy?!", Danny couldn't help but tease, and held up his car keys. "Let's go see Catherine. I'll even let you drive."

Steve's face broke out in a bit of a grin at that; sure, it was a rather twisted version of a grin, but a part of him responded to the teasing, and that was a good sign in and of itself. What astounded Danny more than the vestiges of joviality was the fact that, instead of snatching the keys right out of his hand, Steve simply turned around, and walked down the hall. Even though Danny jingled with the car keys all the way to the Camaro, Steve for once got into the passenger's seat without protest, allowing Danny to drive. The detective quickly realized that this was a good idea as his partner kept drumming impatiently on the dash board which drove Danny almost as insane as Steve's insane driving style.

Steve was out of the car and inside the hospital in an instant. He marched right up to the front desk, holding up his badge without deigning the complaining visitors with a single glance. He informed the clerk of whom he had come here to see, and she redirected him to the ER units. Steve's stomach clenched at that. Kono had said that Catherine was in bad shape, but the sheer relief of her being alive had banished every thought of just how bad she might be out of his mind. If she was in the ER, she had to be critical; she might still die. Steve rounded the front desk, only to be met by his partner and team looking at him as if he were crazy.

"You couldn't wait for me to park the car?", Danny asked him, incredulously.

"Where's Catherine?", Chin asked, sensing an argument coming on, and knowing that now was not the time for one of the Steve/Danny bromance style fights they often had.

"She's in the ER," Steve said in passing as he made his way to the ER. The team followed close by, wanting to offer their friend what support they could. Danny even let go of the big rant he'd been preparing since SuperSEAL had decided to practically jump out of his slowing Camaro in the hospital's parking lot. They found that Duke had stationed two police officers in front of the doors to the ER, and had himself waiting to give them a brief overview of what had happened. Apparently, a couple of tourists had seen a woman being thrown out of a white van as they took a stroll around the block in the late afternoon. As they'd run over, they found that the woman was still breathing, and had called 911. The police, in turn, had called Five-0. He couldn't tell them much about Catherine's condition as he was no doctor, and nobody from the hospital staff was talking to him, but he could describe it rather well. She had looked bad when he'd seen her. Her clothes had been partially torn, and her torso was covered in abrasions and circular burn marks. She had been unconscious, and a small trickle of blood had run from the corner of her mouth down to her throat. There had been a few laceration on her face which Duke assumed were from a beating. Steve had to close his eyes at the image of what Cath had gone through, and, noticing his partner's pain, Danny gave Duke a sign to stop. They'd wait for what the doctor had to say.

Likewise waiting in front of the ER, was Ben Foster in a hospital wheel chair, his arm in a bright blue sling. He and Steve sized each other up briefly, before Five-0 retreated to the opposite side of the hallway, and let the waiting game begin. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long. After an agonizing fifteen minutes of uncomfortable silence, a doctor came out of the ER. There was some blood on his scrubs which had their stomachs' nearly revolting, but it wasn't nearly as much as they'd expected from somebody who just walked out of surgery. Upon seeing them crowd the hallway, the doctor stopped short, and raised an eyebrow. If he'd expected anyone to wait outside his ER for information on his patient, it might have been the uniformed police men, but not this random conglomerate of people that expected him.

"Are you LT Rollins' family?", he asked, though he rather doubted it. None of them looked particularly similar to her. Nonetheless, two men came forward, and started talking at once. One was sitting in a hospital wheel chair, his arm in a sling, as he told him that the woman was his fiancé. The other stood tall and straight, a posture Dr Gordon recognized from his days in the army. The man had a gun strapped to his leg, and a badge attached to his hip, both of which he seemed to forget as he spoke his turn.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Steven McGarrett. I'm listed as Lieutenant Rollins' next of kin," he said as calmly as he could, but the shaky undertone in his voice still told Dr Gordon a good chunk of the hidden story. _Blimey_, he thought, _two men and one woman?! That never ends well_. Instead of commenting though, as it wasn't his place, he cleared his throat, and sent the man in the wheelchair an apologetic look.

"I'm afraid he wins," Dr Gordon informed both men, though discussing LT Rollins' condition in the middle of the hallway meant that everyone else would hear anyway. Hospital policy, bah! "LT Rollins has suffered severe physical trauma, partially from a direct assault, partially from electrocutions. She has a few broken ribs, but the latter worries me more. She does not seem to have suffered any lasting damage, though, and while some of her injuries will probably scar, she should make a full recovery, given time and proper medical care."

The whole hallway seemed to let out a breath.

"We will be transferring her to a room in ICU soon where, given the circumstances, she will be allowed visitors once she has woken up, but only very briefly, and with the understanding not to put further stress on her. Physical injuries aside, I'm worried about the state of her psyche. LT Rollins has undergone severe torture, and has so far been unconscious. We do not know how fragile her state truly is. I'll have a psychiatrist stand by."

"Can she be transferred?", Steve asked, making his team look at him oddly. "She is a member of the US armed forces, and there's a military hospital not far from here which would provide additional security. Given the circumstances of her experience..."

He trailed off, but everybody saw the point. While even the base might not be entirely safe, it would be more difficult for anyone to inflict further harm on her if she were guarded by well-trained MPs – not to say that t he police wasn't capable of looking after her, but Wo Fat played more or less in his own league, and he had proven before that he could easily evade the police. It made sense from Steve's perspective to want Catherine in the safest possible place, but the Doctor was shaking his head emphatically.

"I'm afraid that is out of the question, Lieutenant Commander. We may not know the extent of the psychological aftereffects this will have, but her physical state is frail enough that I wouldn't want to risk further transport."

Steve nodded, dejected. "I understand. I'm just glad she's alive."

Dr Gordon smiled at him for the first time, and told them the room number to which Catherine would be transferred. They could wait there, though it might still be a couple of hours before she would wake up. Steve nodded, and everyone made their way slowly over to the intensive care unit to wait for the staff to bring Catherine over. Danny took Steve aside for a moment when they reached the room.

"Is there someone we should call?", he asked his partner, but Steve was looking at him with a puzzled expression, clearly not understanding. "You're listed as next of kin, yeah, but is there someone – a member of her family, a friend, or someone else – who we need to call to tell them that Catherine is in the hospital?"

Oh. Steve hadn't even thought about that. He didn't really have any family left that wasn't adopted while he was still an active member of the Navy or after he came back to the island. Mary Ann aside, all of his family was dead, but he knew that Catherine still had family, though she had admitted that she rarely talked to her parents anymore. Something about her mother not approving of some of her lifestyle choices. He'd even met her father once, and that hadn't gone to well either. Curiously, most Navy men did not want their daughters ending up with a Navy man themselves, but they wanted them even less to not be serious about said Navy man they were seeing. A fact which, as it had been early in his and Catherine's acquaintance, had caused some tension between him and her father.

"Yeah, God, yeah, you're right. I completely forgot," he said, pulling out his phone. He didn't dial, though. He didn't have the contact number for Cath's family members. Not surprising as she didn't have much contact with them either. He did know where her father was stationed, and could probably talk the clerk into patching him through, but he wasn't exactly keen on a repeat performance of their last conversation. What now?

"Are you waiting for a written invitation to dial or something?"

"Uh, I didn't... I don't... I have an idea," he finally said, and dialed. "Captain, sir, I'm sorry to disturb you, but LT Rollins has been found... No sir, she's alive, and in medical care, but I need to inform her family, and have no way to contact them."

Danny watched Steve converse with the Captain, and spotted the little white lie in the final phrase with one look at his partner's face. After a moment of contemplation he figured that Ramboette's family must not have been too impressed when she brought SuperSEAL home with her or something similar, and he knew Catherine's father was also in the Navy. Chances were he would outrank Steve by a couple of pay grades. Before today Danny would have sworn that his partner was afraid of no man, but of course his girlfriend's father would be the exception to that rule. If the situation weren't so serious, Danny might have found that hilarious. As it were, he filed it away for future blackmail.

Catherine was just being rolled into the room on a hospital bed in which she looked to small and pale to their eyes. Foster maneuvered his wheelchair into the room right behind her, but as Chin, Kono and Danny made to follow, Steve turned away from the door. He briefly discussed substituting the police officers taking post outside Catherine's door with military, then hung up. He put his phone back to his ear after dialing someone else, pacing up and down a small part of the hallway like a caged animal. He waited for the line to click, and only then did he stop dead in his tracks.

"Hey, how fast can you make it to Honolulu hospital?", Steve asked whoever was on the other line.

He listened quietly to the response, and nodded his head.

"Cath needs you."

Another moment of silence, before Steve reassured his conversational partner in as calm a tone as he could manage given the circumstances of the call.

"No, it's cleared. Just go see the captain." Steve listened another second. "Make that faster."

5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0

It was a little over half an hour later when Catherine finally showed signs of waking. Her eyelids fluttered, and she mewled in pain, shifting around in her bed as if trying to get comfortable. Both Ben and Steve were immediately at her side, each holding onto one hand. The rest of Five-0 stood a bit uncomfortably at the foot of her bed. She opened her eyes briefly, but they fell shut again an instant later. This motion was repeated a few times until Catherine managed to keep her eyes open, and take in her surroundings.

"It hurts too damn much to be heaven, even if I didn't think I'd see all of you again," she muttered tiredly.

A grin erupted on everyone's face.

"Welcome back, Catherine," Kono told her friend sincerely, stepping up next to her boss. This made Catherine's gaze fall on Steve for the first time, and let her witness the way his eyes were roaming every bare inch of her skin not covered by her hospital gown. The expression on his face war serious and above all else guilty. His hand over hers felt heavy, his gaze even heavier as it landed on her face. She must be quite a sight to see, what with all the burns and bruises covering her from head to tow, and he couldn't even see all of them.

"I'm so glad you're alive, Cath," Steve whispered brokenly.

"Me, too, but it doesn't make sense," she answered him, more perturbed by how pained he sounded than by the incessant stinging of her own wounds. "Wo Fat said we would not see each other in this lifetime again..."

"Clearly he underestimated how tough you are. I'm afraid the same can't be said for me. After one of his guys shot me, I went down. I'm so sorry I wasn't able to help you fight them," Ben replied, speaking up for the first time with a small smile on his face, and squeezing her hand a little too tightly. Catherine winced at the pressure on her hand. There wasn't an inch of her that didn't hurt already. She turned her eyes to him, and stared at him wordlessly for an eternity as if she didn't recognize him. Danny took it quietly upon himself to introduce Ben to her if that were indeed the case, and Ben squeezed her hand again. Catherine smiled at Danny, telling him that she remembered Ben.

"I just didn't know... I thought... the shot had killed you," she whispered uncertainly, looking down at their joined hands.

Suddenly, Catherine shook her head, then groaned in pain when that movement disagreed with her injuries. She hissed, but turned back to Steve quickly, and the expression on her face was so apologetic, so sympathetic that Danny's stomach dropped. What more bad news could there be that the doctor hadn't already related to his friend? What else had that bastard done to her that had not been discussed? He tortured her, and thrown her battered body out of a moving vehicle, for God's sake.

"Everything is a haze," she told him in a tone filled with anguish. "I don't remember much of our surroundings, only that it was a large building, maybe a warehouse. There was someone else, tied to a chair to the side. A hooded woman made to watch. She seemed familiar, but I just can't... I was so dizzy. I couldn't think. He had me chained in the middle of the room, hanging from the ceiling as he... he..." Her throat closed up as she mentally relived what had happened to her at the hands of that monster. All the beatings, and the taunting. The nonsense about her connection to Steve through their shared experience. The thought of what Steve had gone through while at his mercy had only added to her torment. Now, here she was, safely tucked away in a hospital bed, and the mere thought of those hours made her choke on her words. She couldn't speak, couldn't relay what had happened, and then, suddenly, Ben was telling them to leave, because they were upsetting her.

"Stop!", she cried out, just as an argument was about to break lose. Everyone in the room was staring at her, then she felt Steve's lips on her forehead, kissing it gently. He was promising that they wouldn't fight anymore, telling her that they would find Wo Fat. As he drew back, he took stock again of all her injuries that were visible to him, and she could tell by the way he looked at her hospital gown that he was trying to calculate how bad it really was.

"You were right, you know?", Catherine began, drawing Steve attention away from her visible bruises. He squeezed her hand lightly as a sign to go on. "I'll never be safe with you. There's always something. Your work makes your life dangerous enough for yourself and everyone near you, but your personal vendetta against Wo Fat... Ben, on the other hand... Ben's been there for me, even after everything I put him through. Even after the night I spent with you. He's a good man... The right man. I should have realized this sooner, and put Ben's ring on my finger a long time ago."

She slowly lifted her hand so that everyone could see the diamond ring sparkling in the harsh hospital light. Danny and Chin exchanged bewildered glances while Kono gasped at her friend's casual tone and words. Steve just stared at the ring for an eternity, before squeezing her other hand again with a soft, pain-filled smile on his face.

"Yeah," he croaked, voice choked up. "Yeah, you should have."

His team looked between the two as if they'd grown a second head each.

"Kono, I want you to stay here until I can get a protective detail on Cath," Steve ordered with a grim intensity.

"But he's given her back," Ben chimed in.

"Yeah, so that I could see her. Like this. Beaten and bruised, and know that it is my fault. He's given Cath back so that it would hurt me, and then hurt me more when he kills her. Wo Fat is far from through with her, but I won't let anything else happen to her. Kono, don't leave this room until I can get someone here."

"Sure thing, boss," Kono answered succinctly. She had the distinct feeling that something more was going on. Steve was planning something. "Go find that son of a bitch." Once the others had left the room, she turned to Catherine. For long minutes the two women just looked at each other, before Kono finally found her voice again. "Why would you say all that?"

"Because it is true," the Navy Officer answered quietly, but the pleading, frightened look in her eyes made Kono think twice about believing her.

Kono's phone beeped with a text. Both Catherine and Ben looked at her with attention as she checked it "Ah, it's Adam. With all of this going on, I forgot we had plans," she lied smoothly. Adam had, after all, been there when they'd heard of Catherine's discovery, and he'd wanted to come, but needed to take care of Michael's legal council. The guy was still his brother even if Adam had been very close to punching him. She typed back to inform Steve that she'd gotten it. She may not have all the facts, but she would always take her boss at his word.

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Steve made his way out of Catherine's room and straight to an empty break room where his grim expression rattled a nurse lounging there during her break enough to leave the room. Danny and Chin came in after him, and managed to close the door just in time to shut out the rest of the world as Steve lost it. With an angry grunt, the former SEAL punched the wall, making his team mates wince in sympathy – for the wall, that is.

"That son of a bitch," Steve growled lowly as Chin raised his hands in a calming manner, and took a step closer.

"No one likes Foster, and I'm sorry you had to hear that. I can't believe Catherine said those things, but you have to accept-"

"He's in on it, Danny. He's in bed with Wo Fat."

"What are you talking about? He was shot by one of Wo Fat's henchmen less than a day ago! What?! Wo Fat goes around shooting his own people now?!", Danny demanded loudly.

"Don't you get it? That's so we would buy it. That's why he didn't help her, and then, who knows; he might have shot himself to cover it up. Have you seen Catherine's reaction to what he said about the gunshot wound? Why did he have to mention it to her anyway; she was there. The guy is clever, too. Nobody looks at a presumed victim when looking for a mole. He's in on it, Danny. Trust me."

That shocked the Jersey detective into silence. He exchanged a glance with Chin. Clearly, Catherine's happy announcement had spun Steve around again, pulling the ground from underneath their friend's feet. Danny could imagine how much it hurt; he'd still loved Rachel when she'd told him about her impending nuptials. Steve was trained to handle stress, but he doubted the SEAL had ever had to deal with something quite so personal before. From what he understood of Steve's and Catherine's relationship before he'd met either of them, they'd been seeing each other, exclusively, for a few years at least. He looked at Chin again, nudging him for a joined effort.

"Look, Steve," Chin began. "I know this must be hard, but think about what you're saying. We have no evidence that Benjamin Foster is anything but an attorney. Former Navy, actually."

"We have Catherine."

"...How so?", Danny asked, catching on. "We heard what she said, Steve. There didn't seem to be any hint at-"

"Danny."

"-any foul play on behalf of Foster. He's not even a bad guy. Kono said he's nice enough when he comes surfing with them. You can't just make accusations like that, no matter how much you-"

"Danny."

"-hate the guy for stealing your girl. He's free to ask any woman to marry him. Just because it's the woman you love and you've just found out she said yes, is not reason enough to do this. I mean, technically, it's your own fault. You could have put a ring on her finger ages ago, but- what are you doing?"

Seeing as he couldn't get Danny's attention, Steve had started typing away furiously on his phone.

"Texting Kono to loop her in... Listen, Danny," he continued hastily when his partner opened his mouth again. "She didn't put that ring on her finger. I did."

Another shocked silence.

Nervously twitching, because he could just imagine the reaction to the next tidbit of information, Steve continued. "Right after... Well, after. You should actually be able to see it, sort of, on one of the photos. The guy with the camera might not have a clear shot of the scene, though."

"I'm sorry, WHAT?" It just burst out of Danny. "So, let me get this straight. You fuck with her on your living room floor – basically doing it like bunnies, 'cause you can't make it to the bedroom or even the couch – and then you put another man's engagement ring on her finger – WHO. DOES. THAT?!"

Silence was his only answer. Steve didn't really _have_ an answer for that anyway; he had no idea what had gone through his head that night. Point was, Catherine knew it had been him, and he'd seen her wince when Foster had squeezed her hand. The only reason for her to lie was to tell him something was fishy with the guy, or maybe it truly was his imagination. Still, he couldn't quite believe that the guy – a Navy man, lawyer or not – had completely frozen up when they were attacked. Combat training never completely left you, and he'd said himself that a lot of people wanted a piece of him because of his job.

Danny was fuming at his partner who seemed to have drifted off into a world of his own even as his blue eyes met the detective's. SuperSEAL had pulled a number – that did not bear thinking about – of stunts in the time Danny had known him, but of all godforsaken, stupid, brainless, violently reckless ideas his partner had ever had, this had to take the top position. He goddamn loved that woman, she loved him right back, and clearly they were far from over but he had to go and all but give her away even as he made love to her. Danny truly wanted to cut open Steve's skull to see what made his brain tick.

Chin was merely at a loss for words. Despite having silently asked him for help, Danny had practically taken over the conversation with their boss right afterward, leaving him to be the outside audience of another one of their carguments – even if they were technically in the nurses' break room. When the discussion took a turn for the Steve kind of weird, Chin had raised his arms above his head in disbelief, and left his two friends to stare in silent frustration at each other. He, too, couldn't quite believe what they'd just uncovered, but Danny's tone and choice of words were not really helping the situation any. When he heard the door creak open, Chin turned around. He was the only one who noticed the three other members of Steve's SEAL team enter the room as the reservist and the mainland detective were still fuming at each other.

"Is is safe to come in, yet?", LT j. g. Storm asked with an amused glance at the irate duo. "We thought it better to wait outside when we heard yelling."

"Yeah, Jersey, why don't you raise your voice a little more; I think somewhere in China someone didn't quite catch that," Huarez suggested as Danny's and Steve's attention finally shifted to them when they took notice of their audience.

"Now, Commander, why don't you tell us how Kitten managed to end up in the hospital, and why you need us for security. Captain Coulston wouldn't give us details," Storm added.

"His call came patched through right after you hung up; apparently, you two had the same idea about who should keep an eye on Kitten," Carter informed them quietly. "And what is this I hear about an engagement ring? You finally gonna make an honest woman out of her?"

Steve sighed, and told them the entire story with quite a few interruptions from Danny who thought it necessary to add to or edit the story at certain parts. Chin simply watched the SEALs take it all in, their eyebrows rising higher with each new detail that was unveiled. At Steve's suspicion that Foster might be a part of the whole thing, their faces turned into angry frowns, though both Danny and Chin commented that she might just not have wanted to reveal to Ben that it hadn't been her who put the ring onto her finger.

"Either way," Steve cut them off, returning to his story, "I don't trust him. Nobody with any form of training, let alone the experience he admitted to would freeze up like that. There's something fishy about it. If he's actually in on it, I want him monitored, and if he was merely too angry with Cath to do anything..."

He didn't finish that sentence, but the anger in his tone was palpable.

"Chin," he added, "I want his cell phone covered. If he is involved – note that I said 'if', Danny," to which said detective inclined his head, "then he'll get a call from Wo Fat sooner or later."

Chin left to do as his boss had requested. Danny followed him, sensing that the SEALs needed a moment to talk with their former squad leader. Clicking his tongue Michael told the other two members to go look after Catherine, though. They sent him a nearly rebellious look, but neither of them wanted to leave their Kitten alone with her potentially treacherous boyfriend for any longer than absolutely necessary, so they went without a word of protest. However, not before giving Smooth Dog one last, hard look.

"I should have never let it come to this," Steve sighed the moment they were out the door. He sank onto a couch near the wall, head falling into his hands. "If I'd have had the strength to walk away when I realized that there was more to my mother's apparent death than I had previously suspected, before Catherine spent so much time on the island, and attracted Wo Fat's attention..."

"So, let me get this straight," Michael piped up before his commander could finish. "First, you lose her to your own stupidity, then to another man, then to another man again when she is kidnapped, and now you're just going to go back to losing her over your own stupidity?! Did I miss something?"

"Mick..."

"Don't 'Mick' me, Steven. You're like my brother, and it's my job to tell you when you're being an idiot," Mick informed him, completely disregarding any form of military courtesy. Lieutenant Commander McGarrett was his superior, technically, but right now he was talking to his friend Steve. "More than that, though, Catherine is like my little sister. I knew the first time you blew us off during shore leave to see her that she was more than just some warm body. Otherwise, she would have been replaceable, dispensable even. You never went to any other woman during shore leave when she wasn't available, despite the whole crap you gave us about just being friends with benefits. You loved her then, you love her now, and, what I have at the moment trouble understanding considering all the shit you've recently put her through, she loves you too. Will you please man up, and do something about that."

"Like what? I have thought about it. I know I've wasted precious time with her; I admitted as much to Danny, but she just got kidnapped and tortured because of me. Don't you think I've done enough?"

"Not nearly. Her being kidnapped should, frankly, just run home how precious your time together is. I wasn't joking when I asked if you would make an honest woman out of her a couple of years ago. Never mind marriage, but it's high time you two defined your relationship, and got started on those baby SEALs."

With that, he exited the door. Steve was close behind him, his mind reeling with everything Mick had just said, and the firm, nearly accusatory tone in which he had said it. Mick had given him a piece of his mind several times over their long years of friendship and camaraderie, but never about something so personal. Never about Cath. The mere fact that he'd broached the subject of 'making her an honest woman' again, _rammed_ it home how serious the man was, and how much he disliked Steve's actions or lack thereof in regard.

As he was following Mick quietly down the hall, a hand on his shoulder arrested his movement. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Mick stop as well, and the narrowing of his friend's eyes did not escape Steve when both their gazes fell on Valerie, but Steve didn't feel like explaining himself, and causing another heart to heart with Mick. He was still blown away from the last one. Instead he focused his gaze on the woman in front of him. Her curly blonde hair was in a complete disarray, partially sticking to her flushed face. She must have hurried over with how she was panting.

"I just heard," she explained, bracing herself on her knees in an attempt to get her breath back. "Is she alright?"

"Yes, she's... well, no, she's not alright, but she's alive, she... She's alive," he finished in a whisper as his throat suddenly choked up.

"What about you?", she asked carefully, rubbing her hand over his arm in comfort.

He didn't know what to answer.

He hadn't really managed to work through any of his feelings yet. When Kono had first mentioned that they'd found Cath, he'd thought the worst. He'd felt numb, unable to stand. The subsequent elation at hearing that she was being taken to a hospital, had overridden any thought or emotion other than the driving instinct that he needed to see her with his own eyes. For the first time since he joined the Navy, the hospital was a place of life, and Cath being here meant everything to him. He didn't think he could have gone to see her if she had been in a morgue.

He looked at Valerie.

"I don't know... how..." He couldn't express what he was feeling; he didn't understand the emotions coursing through him. Since arriving at the hospital he'd been mostly on autopilot. No, before that already. All that had mattered was that she was alive, and still talking to him. Now, confronted with the question how Catherine was...

Valerie looked him over carefully. She felt that this was the first time that she actually got to see the real Steve McGarrett. He was broken, but not irreparably so. He was confused and afraid, and his whole life revolved around someone else at the moment. He'd tried so hard to let go, to move on, only to become more attached. She couldn't imagine how he must have felt when Catherine was taken, then when she was given back to him again. She wanted to give him a hug. With everything he'd gone through in just the last few hours, he deserved one, but now was not the time. The roller coaster of emotions was going to take its toll on him, but he needed to stay focused right now. So instead she needed to tell him the unbridled truth.

"You feel helpless, because you can't help her here. You couldn't save her, and here you are of no use to her either." It was a statement, not a question.

Both Steve and Mick raised an eyebrow. Mick had an inkling of what she was doing; he was starting to like her.

"So what are you still here for? Go find the man who did this to her," Valerie told him, her hand giving his arm a gentle squeeze. She watched as the confusion slowly ebbed away to be replaced by grim determination.

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Kono had taken a seat next to Ben. It put her farther away from Catherine who really needed her support right now, but this way she would be able to stop anything Ben may try. She had been shocked when she had received the text message from her boss. Ben had always seemed like a nice guy to her; she'd only really resented him somewhat because of how she saw her boss and her friend suffer at being apart. She would have never suspected that he could have something to do with it. Steve's text message did not explain the fine details of his suspicion, it merely mentioned that she should keep a very close eye on him.

Ever since she'd told them that it had been Adam who'd contacted her, though, Ben had tried several times to get her to leave the room – if only to call him back. Technically, she wasn't even supposed to have her cell switched on in the hospital, but they were law enforcement, and could get away with it. Calling anyone was completely out of the question, though, and Ben's insistence in having her go outside to talk to her boyfriend made her suspicious. Steve's personal issues with the man aside, his behavior was questionable. He held on to Catherine's hand gently now, but she had seen him squeeze it rather forcefully earlier when Steve had been present.

Also, there was that strange tone of voice Catherine had used when talking to him about the fight in their apartment, and what she had said to Steve shortly afterward. It had seemed strange that she would tell Steve those things so callously when the pictures had just shown that they still had feelings for each other. Torture would have given Catherine perspective, but Kono couldn't imagine her friend crumbling so completely under the stress that she deliberately hurt Steve.

At this moment the door opened to reveal two very tall, very muscular men in very dirty camouflage gear. Kono could see Ben raise an eyebrow at the sight; he might have remembered the men that had taken Catherine home after she had fought with Steve in that bar. Huarez and Carter nodded at Kono but their true attention was fixated on Catherine. The dark-haired Lieutenant was obviously happy to see them as the first real smile broke out on her face when they walked up to her. One after another they hugged her gently, half-way lifting her out of her hospital bed, all the while murmuring softly to her. If the situation weren't so serious, Kono might have found it hilarious. She'd have never guessed that SEALs had a such a soft core, but she supposed she ought not be surprised; she knew that McGarrett could go all soft over Catherine as well.

"How are you doing, Kitten?", Carter asked gently. "The commander asked us to keep an eye on you, in case the big bad shows his face again."

"Isn't that what the police is for?", Ben asked before Catherine could open her mouth. "Is this really necessary? All these people... Isn't Cathy stressed enough?"

Again, someone else answered before said woman could even open her mouth. Kono could tell that she did not appreciate that everyone was speaking for her. Apparently, so did Huarez because, even though he did speak, he sent an apologetic glance at the woman in question.

"Kitten is never too stressed for us; we're family."

"Never," Catherine finally managed to get a word in, smiling brilliantly at the two men. Her smile only grew more radiant when Michael entered the room, closely followed by Steve. Once Michael too had given her a hug, Steve leaned down to place another kiss on her forehead, and caressed her cheek with his hand. Then she noticed Valerie sliding into the room behind the two men, and frowned briefly. Steve had told her that they were just friends, but seeing the blonde woman still unsettled her somewhat even as they smiled at each other in greeting.

"Unfortunately, I'm here to get Kono. HPD came through with a lead we're going to follow up. Apparently, they weren't as careful in their driving this time," Steve told her quietly. "Uniforms are placed outside, and the guys are going to stay with you. Nothing will happen to you, Cath."

She put a hand over the one that still caressed her cheek.

"I know. Be safe."

Steve nodded. He and his SEALs exchanged a few determined looks, then he gave Kono the signal to follow him. As they left, and her personal bodyguards took positions around her bed, Valerie squeezed passed Michael to stand next to her bed. The other woman curled her hand gently around Catherine's with an encouraging smile on her face.

"Everything's going to be okay," she said before turning to leave. She could sense that the dark-haired woman was uneasy around her. She had always noticed that, but she'd always attributed it either to their vast differences or to the fact that she was an old friend of Steve's. Old friend, indeed. She should have known that a man like him would be with a girl like her, and while she had suffered no rose-colored illusions when it came to the state of her relationship with the Commander, she couldn't help but feel a bit envious as well. She and Catherine would probably never be friends, but she wished them all the best nonetheless.

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Meanwhile, Kono waited till they were out the door before she reminded him that they hadn't been able to track the car very far. Steve didn't say anything, instead leading her to where Danny's Camaro was waiting for them outside. He went straight to the trunk, and retrieved an object from it that made Kono raise an eyebrow. She wondered, not for the first time, if this was even truly Danny's car anymore, but didn't comment. Once seated safely inside the car, they merely waited in silence. The didn't have to wait long, though, as barely a few minutes after they supposedly left, Ben Foster came walking out of the hospital with an air of someone in a hurry, and placed a phone call.

**End of chapter 12!**

**A/N:** Just one more chapter to go. What will happen? Would you like a happy end?


	13. Ohana

**Love Is Not Enough**

**Warning:** Violence, language

**New 5-0 fanfic posting alert:** I've started posting a new Hawaii Five-0 fic today. It's called **Trust**.

Summary:Things between Steve and Catherine end in a bad way after he finds out that she's been withholding information on his mother. That should have been it, but neither had counted on fate to keep dragging them back.

**Chapter 13: Ohana**

Ben left the hospital as calmly as he could, even though on the inside he was buzzing with nervous energy. He didn't like the SEALs' presence, and he liked the last interaction between Catherine and McGarrett even less. Something about it had almost felt like a declaration of love which should not be possible considering that she had just told the Lieutenant Commander that she would be marrying him in the near future. There were also the angry, suspicious looks of the island girl and his former comrades, but maybe they just didn't like the fact that he was stealing McGarrett's girlfriend.

Still, something felt off. The leader of the governor's task force had mentioned a lead; something that was left behind in the vehicle. If this were true, and they were closing in, then he needed to alert the others that their operation was about to be busted. Also, that he couldn't get to the bitch anymore without revealing himself. He had excused himself to make a phone call to his boss to tell him he would not come into work tomorrow. Walking out the front door of the hospital, he made his way to the side of the building where there was less activity and therefore a smaller chance to be overheard as everybody was busy with the sick and injured. He pulled out his cell phone, and dialed.

A crisp voice answered on the second ring.

"I can't get to Rollins at the moment. Her former SEAL boyfriend has shanghaied his old team into posing as her watch dogs. At least as long as she is in the hospital."

"Then wait till you're alone again."

"Nah, she knows something is up, because your guy shot me after I knocked her out. This should have been more carefully planned. Couldn't you have gotten some professionals instead of the Noshimuri brat and his punks?"

"It will hardly matter on your sunny days in Mexico. Your compensation should be more than satisfactory. You'll never have to think about your failure in the Navy again. You'll never have to contemplate all those sailors again, and never again will you have to stand up for corporate snakes in court, wasn't that what you wanted?"

He grunted.

"Practicing a little patience and cool under fire for now should not be too difficult. Just think of your account on the Caimans."

"Just end this quick. I want out of here; I have a bad feeling. McGarrett knows something. He was off over something you left behind in the van when you ditched it."

There was contemplative silence on the other end for what seemed like an eternity. Ben lit himself a cigarette, and took a deep pull. A light series of coughs followed that action. He wasn't an accomplished smoker. He rarely felt the need for a bit of nicotine in his system, only when he was nervous or on edge. These recent developments – the lousily executed break-in, the dumping of Rollins' manhandled boy (they really should have just killed her), and the sloppiness in cleaning the van – were driving him around the bent. Now McGarrett had a clue, and like a bloodhound he would latch onto it in his quest for vengeance he called justice against Wo Fat.

Ben had encountered his fair share of types like McGarrett. In his opinion, retired SEALs should be barred from law enforcement, the private security sector or setting up detective agencies. Violence as a way of solving issues was too ingrained into them. They liked extreme solutions. From what he'd heard of McGarrett, the guy had hung someone over a roof a couple of days after his return to Oahu, had used a real life hand grenade to open a fortified door with a person on the other side, and the list went on and on. He was the stereotypical anti-hero: good intentions mixed up with some character traits not exactly fitting the typical profile of heroism, yet people still liked him. In Ben's experience, guys like McGarrett were cocky, uncouth, disrespectful to people with different ideas about right and wrong or how to enforce the first, and arrogant enough to fill a building with their ego.

He honestly didn't understand what Rollins saw in the man. She was clever, witty, funny and beautiful. Had circumstances been different, he might have liked ending up with her. He might have actually gone for her kind before life made him bitter. Now, all that mattered to him was her infatuation with the former SEAL, even though he didn't quite understand it. She – and a lot of other women, for that matter – must not have a great sense of self-worth or otherwise be rather slutty. She seemed to really like to be visited by her sailor when he was in port, despite how many other women must be on the list. The sex must make up for that, apparently.

"Did you listen to me, Foster?", came the irritated voice through the receiver.

"Uh."

"I said there couldn't have been anything in the van. Maybe some fibers from sweaters or masks, but nothing that would lead to us. Even if, the findings would be days old. If there had been any value in them, McGarrett and his band of merry men would have found us already."

"Huh? Days old? What are you talking about?"

"The van we left on the Kamehameha highway; what are you talking about?"

"The van in which you transported Catherine. They found it, and they found evidence in it."

All he received as an answer was that his conversational partner hung up on him. The last thing he heard before the connection was cut was a gunshot fired close by at the other end of the line and a feminine cry of pain. Ben pulled the phone away from his ear, and looked at it for several seconds, before pocketing it and turning back towards the hospital. He didn't make two steps though, because as he turned around he became aware of LT j. g. Storm standing practically right next to him waiting. A few steps behind him were the two police officers the HPD had sent to guard Rollins' hospital room.

Understanding clicked in immediately as Ben assessed how much of the conversation they may have heard. The Lieutenant's arms were crossed in front of him, and a nasty, angry smirk was plastered on his face as he looked at Ben with disgust shining in his eyes. Still in a slow mid-turn twist, Ben speedily changed direction, and made a dash for it. Lieutenant Storm seemed to have been expecting this as he dashed after him instantly. The two military men left the police officers behind them quickly, and Ben could hear Storm's footsteps hounding his as the other man closed in on him. Suddenly, something solid collided with his back, and the SEAL's weight pushed him to the ground with the force of his tackle. He felt a knee being pressed into his back as the larger man brought his hands together on his back. A tinkling sound, and then the SEAL had him handcuffed behind his back, and helped him up off the ground.

"What the hell is going on here," an authoritative voice demanded.

Mick could hear the two police officers straighten up behind him, and it took him one glance at the two men in front of him to decide to to the same. It had been the woman with them who'd spoken, though, and despite being clearly a civilian, she had shown all the authority of an Admiral used to giving orders. He got off Foster, helped him up, then stood at attention as the three newcomers gave them a very critical once-over.

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_(a little earlier with Steve and Kono)_

Steve held the scanner in Foster's direction, and it took less than a minute to get the number he was calling. They passed the number along to Chin who set about to pinpoint its location, and told him to pass it on to them and meet them there with whatever numbers of the HPD's forces they could scrap together at short notice. It turned out that the phone was currently located at an abandoned warehouse complex near the Kamehameha Highway and Heeia Street junction, about half an hour from their current location at the hospital – and that was not counting sirens or Steve's fast-paced driving style.

In Kono's modest estimation it took them less than twenty minutes to reach the gathering point they had agreed on with Chin, but that may have been because she'd suddenly remembered how to pray for her life. The point of assembly was only a couple of minutes out in regards to their target, and Danny greeted them as they quietly drove up to him. They'd agreed not to use sirens once close enough to the building so as not to warn Wo Fat when they were coming. He probably saw through the ruse with the van, and knew that they were on their way.

Chin was standing with a good two dozen police officers in the relative cover of their parked car, giving instructions and handing out heavy weaponry. As far as Steve could see there were shotguns and automatics being loaded and handed round. He nodded at Chin in greeting as the man handed him and Kono their own machine guns. Chin and Danny filled them in on what they'd managed to determine before they had arrived. They'd checked the building with an infrared scanner which indicated that there were several lifeforms inside.

"Then Wo Fat could still be in there," Steve concluded quietly.

Danny nodded.

"We've spoken to the police officers, and agreed that Five-0 will go in with a few of them, while the rest check the perimeter, and make sure no strays get away. They'll move in if we call for backup, otherwise they'll stay outside the building."

"Good," Steve agreed. "Less chances of casualties by friendly fire." Big police operations worked, but there was always the possibility that in the confusion a stray bullet hit a colleague – especially if they were attacking from every side, and they did need the warehouse surrounded to make sure Wo Fat and his crew did not escape justice this time. The former SEAL briefly closed his eyes, trying to dispel the raw desire to just go in there and put a bullet through the arms dealer's head for what he'd done to Catherine and all those other women.

Wo Fat sought revenge against his mother for the death of his father, and again against him for ruining several of his plans, against all of Five-0 for hunting him, and only God knew what other vendettas he had gone through. Steve swore to himself that he would not be like that man. No matter what Wo Fat had done, he would not stoop to the same level. Steve would capture him, and take him to prison and to court until justice was served. Opening his eyes, he took a deep breath. He looked his team in the eyes. This was it. This was the outcome of all their hard work to get Wo Fat behind bars.

This was the moment that counted.

"Alright, let's go."

Quickly but quietly they moved out. There wasn't really anything to take cover behind between their cars and the warehouse, but the building didn't have windows, so any shots could only come from the door or-. A shot rang out, followed by a scream as a police officer went down. Steve looked up; there was someone on the roof of the building. Another shot made Kono jump as it flew past her and hit the ground behind her while she checked up on the man that had been hit. She and another police officer grabbed the man, who was bleeding heavily from his leg, by the arms and dragged him back towards the police cars as fast as they could, but if the guy on the roof took aim they'd be sitting ducks.

Without waiting for a third shot Steve, Danny and Chin opened fire. They couldn't see the guy very clearly as they didn't have a vantage point, but they could keep him worried enough about being hit by a lucky bullet long enough so that their friends could get to safety. Steve exchanged a look with Danny, before turning to Chin. The man nodded grimly once, and the other two task force members ceased fire in order to approach the warehouse with the remaining police officers in their assault group. They trusted Chin completely to cover them. Once closer, Steve and Danny resumed fire so that their friend could follow or fall back to where Kono was undoubtedly getting ready with her rifle.

As expected a single shot mingled with the chattering sound of Chin's machine gun, nearly drowned out by all the noise around it. There was a small sound of pain, then silence. Only moments later a cheeky voice came through the coms, informing them that their sniper wasn't going to be a problem anymore.

"You have got to be kidding me," Steve grumbled. "Didn't I tell you to stay with Cath?"

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A short while earlier Kono was looking through the sight pipe of her rifle, waiting for the other team's sniper to make a mistake and expose himself, but it was trying her patience. They'd gotten the wounded Sargent back to the cars thanks to Five-0's cover fire. Many of the police officers there had already moved out to surround the warehouse, but Duke, who always had Five-0's back, had remained behind to back them up on the frontal assault if needed. He had relieved Kono of taking care of his officer even before they reached the cars; he'd extra left their cover to meet them.

"Get that son of a bitch," he rumbled at her as he took over the Sargent's left side from her.

She hadn't stayed around to argue, or to reprimand him for being so careless. She, too, trusted her men to give them all the cover they needed, and then some. She'd given Duke a mock salute, then rushed off to her cousin's car. Fleetingly, she had to admit that Steve wasn't the only one on their team who kept strange things in his car. Not many people, even in law enforcement, drove a disassembled sharpshooter's rifle around in their trunk. With a small grin she took her baby out. Sitting down with her back against the trunk, she went about assembling it as quickly as she could, then positioned herself with as good a view of the damned roof as she was gonna get.

It all only took a minute or so, but ever since then the young woman was becoming increasingly more frustrated. She was an excellent shot if she might say so herself, but normally her targets were out in the open, and she had a good vantage point. Shooting upwards was an entirely new experience for her, and one she found she didn't like. She could make an educated guess at were the shooter was, but she couldn't actually make him out; the bloody roof was obscuring her line of sight, making her growl.

"What's the poor roof ever done to you, honey?," she heard a familiar voice asking, and her head snapped around at once. Her mouth fell open as her gaze settled on Petty Officer Jack Carter, one of her boss' former teammates.

"What are you doing here? You should be at the hospital," she told him, half-way between being outraged and being dumb-founded even if he'd made a joke at her expanse.

"Don't worry about it. It's covered," he answered seriously, the smirk formerly on his face gone in an instant as her implications sank in. "As if we'd ever leave Kitten unprotected."

He sounded seriously insulted at the notion, and Kono gulped when he extended a hand towards her. All he did, of course, was make a gesture that plainly told her to hand over her rifle. The young woman frowned even as she did as she was asked. She didn't doubt his skill, but felt a little insulted that he seemed to think that he could make the shot from below. Instead of getting into position, she saw him move to a nearby tree. He gave it a good, long look, then climbed to a forked branch on which he positioned himself (1). Kono watched with a mixture of disbelief and fascination as he splayed himself out on the branch, and then took aim through the sight pipe.

It took less than a minute before a single, precise shot rang through the air.

"Target on the roof eliminated," Carter's voice reported in down-to-business, military fashion, but in a tone that belied some of his amusement at Kono's disgruntled expression. Not only had he made the shot she couldn't, no, he'd made it from a tree, and stolen her com so he could inform her teammates about the success. By extension he also just let Steve know that he was here, and as he descended from the tree in an impressive impersonation of a monkey, Kono could hear her boss' incredulous voice through the link.

"You have got to be kidding me?! Didn't I tell you to stay with Cath?"

"Don't worry, you'd be in more danger in that hospital than her right now," Jack informed him jovially as he handed the rifle back over, and appropriated Duke's gun from where the man had left it in order to take care of his wounded. "Captain Coulston is with her – and he brought her parents from the Big Island."

Kono told herself that she was most definitely not amused by Steve's underhanded "Crap!" as it drifted through the coms before he gave the order to breach the doors.

5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0

As soon as the doors to the warehouse flew open, bullets were flying everyone. As Five-0 had predicted, a small attack force was the better approach. Neither Steve no Danny or Chin could see much of anyone as everyone took cover behind stacks of boxes piled along the walls. The only thing that was clearly visible was a fallen over chair to which someone had been tied. Despite the gunfire and the shouting, the person was not moving, and Danny worried that it wasn't just out of fear. If he narrowed his eyes, he thought he could see blood. He remembered that Catherine had said something about another woman being there, and sent a quick prayer to the heavens that she was still alive.

He didn't have time for anything more as the operation required his full attention. He could make out a couple of hands furtively peering past boxes, and took a shot at them. There was some gurgling that he could barely make out over all the noise, and he took it as a good sign that it was safe to approach. Steve, Chin and he cautiously moved forward at once, covering their sides as they went. Danny could see the other police officers and, by now unsurprisingly, two members of Steve's SEAL team surge into the center of the large building from the other sides. He wasn't sure when the two SEALs had stealthily managed to join them, but once inside, they'd split up and moved along the walls to surround the criminals as much as they could.

The look Steve gave his two comrades was somewhere between gratitude and exasperation as they handily disarmed some of the last guys putting up resistance without even shooting once. Briefly overlooking the group was enough to be sure that these were some of Michael Noshimuri's less scrupulous friends. It also didn't take a genius to see that Wo Fat wasn't amongst them. Steve was already half-way out the door, Mick hot on his heels, when Danny called him back. Steve's irritated look at the interference disappeared when he saw the woman Danny had just freed from the chair she had been tied to. He had taken off the bag from over her head, too.

"Mom," Steve gasped, and rushed over.

As he knelt beside her, he chanced a glance at Danny who could only shake his head. Steve took in the bloodied front of her shirt, the bruises on her exposed arms and face, and clenched his fists. His relationship with his mother wasn't close, and he hadn't trusted her as far as he could throw her, but dammit he'd just found her again! After twenty years of thinking she was dead, she'd turned up alive, and become a part of his and Mary's life again. She had been trying, at least – not that either of them had made it easy for her. Now she was gone for good, and neither he nor Mary would have the chance to forgive her or to fully know their mother.

All because of Wo Fat. His clenched hands hurt as red-hot anger engulfed him. Without another word, without another look at his mother's broken body, he turned away and went after where he thought Wo Fat had gone through a side door that had not been in the plans they'd used to make arrangements for the take-down. He could hear two gunshots being fired, and adrenaline made him run a little faster as he followed them. On his way he found to more dead bodies, both police officers killed with a single skilled shot each. There was a bit of vegetation gone wild on the unused compound, and he was moving right into the thick of it.

As he came out on the other side, he could see Wo Fat putting more distance between himself and the warehouse. Steve was sure that in the direction in which the arms dealer was heading there was a highway. If he reached that street, and managed to commandeer a car, he would disappear again until he was ready to strike another blow. That one Steve had no doubt would be more deadly than the last, and the body count was already too high, and too personal.

"Wo Fat!", he called across the distance, gun raised to the man's head.

"McGarrett," Wo Fat acknowledged without turning around. He did stop, though, perhaps sensing that here was potential for lethal force from his opponent.

With only a deep breath to gather himself, Steve approached the other man, ordering him to throw away his gun, and put his hands behind his head. At the same time, the former SEAL did his best to suppress the urgent demand of his anger to shoot the other man in the back, and tell his people that he'd been trying to escape. They wouldn't buy it, but they'd support it, he knew that. He didn't want to put them in that position, though. The ramifications of the locker heist had been more than enough for everyone.

Wo Fat did as he was told which, quite frankly, worried Steve more than anything else. The last time Wo Fat had given up without a fight, the CIA and the Yakuza had tried to make sure that they didn't reach Oahu. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what would happen now. Even readying himself for the worst, couldn't have prepared him for Wo Fat's leg swinging around and knocking the gun out of his hands once he was close enough, though. The man didn't waste any time afterward either as immediately followed up the attack with well-placed body shots. Steve only just managed to duck under the full turning kick that came his way as soon as Wo Fat had managed to set the other foot down when the Korean surprised him by bouncing off the ball of his foot, and catching him squarely in the head.

Trying to shake of the resulting dizziness, he instinctively took hold of the other man's foot when it came into contact with his stomach, and pulled. This action unbalanced his opponent slightly as he had to jump forward to follow the movement and regain his foothold. Steve made good use of this time by stepping sideways towards the man even as he pulled, and landed a hammer fist against his temple. Pulling back his arm, Steve twisted his upper body to land another punch in a direct frontal assault. He then wrapped one hand around his opponents neck, firmly grabbing his hair with the other, and pulled him down until his knee would have made contact with the man's chest. Seeing the attack coming, Wo Fat managed to get his arms in between to give Steve's leg a good shove downward, and preventing the worst of the attack. He got a few punches to Steve's gut in before the former SEAL let go of him, and put some distance between them.

The two man shared a look of equal determination. They had too much history, and too many bloody tears between them not to bring about the end of their relationship. Both moved at the same instance, their attacks colliding and crashing them together. Wo Fat lost his balance, but before Steve could use this to his advantage, the man had swung his leg around. In order to avoid ending up on the ground as well, Steve backed out of the way, but got his leg caught by the edge of the arms dealer's foot, and stumbled. This gave Wo Fat enough time to get up again. The forward thrust of his leg made Steve brace himself for an attack, but Wo Fat merely used it to swing around and build up speed so that he could catch Steve with a tornado kick to the head. Steve managed to raise his arm at the last second, though it was too late to step out of the way. Wo Fat's kick came down on his block with full force, slamming Steve's own forearm into his face, and making him stumble sideways.

Steve was back to shaking his head to get rid of the fuzzy feeling that threatened to encompass him. There was a ringing noise in his left ear dulled by the dizziness he was experiencing. His head felt like it had been packed in cotton. The feeling faded a second later, only to make way to the aching burn that his nerves registered across the bones of his forearm. He wouldn't be entirely surprised to know they had cracked under the assault, but he did not have time to muse about this as his left arm fell uselessly to his side. He wanted to cradle it, but could see Wo Fat coming at him again with a skipping sidekick that would have hit him square in his stomach if he hadn't managed to deviate the blow slightly with a push from his good hand. The kick caught him in the side nonetheless, and was quickly followed by an elbow coming around to his temple as Wo Fat twirled so as not to leave his back exposed to him.

Steve managed to step back far enough to avoid the elbow strike completely, and even got a shot in by delivering a kick to the crime lord's unguarded stomach. Wo Fat curled around the pain as Steve executed a front kick that was aimed to break the man's knee. The Korean succeeded in rolling out of the way, and retaliated with a jumping roundhouse kick that send both of them flying to the ground as Steve grabbed hold of Wo Fat's leg when it came into contact with his side. Together they tumbled to the ground in a mess of arms and legs, fighting for control as they spun each other on the back. Wo Fat secured himself the position on top, and splayed his hands across Steve's throat to choke him.

Steve's lungs were already burning from the exertion of their fight and the maelstrom of emotions raging inside of him that the sudden lack of oxygen almost made him panic. Steve raised his arms above his head, and in bringing his fist down forcefully on the other man's biceps released himself from Wo Fat's hold. Giving his aggressor a god shove he managed to separate the two of them, and got up. Wo Fat was still on the ground when he stood, and Steve hurried over to him ready to cuff him when the barrel of his own gun greeted him. Wo Fat must have landed close to where he had kicked it, and taken the opportunity to end the fight his way. Steve chanced a glance to where the criminal's gun lay on the ground.

He didn't need his extensive training to know just how screwed he was.

The former SEAL didn't raise his arms in surrender; to the man who ordered the hit on his father, and doubtlessly killed his mother with his own hands he never would. There was no point in the gesture anyway as he was sure his long-time personal enemy would should him regardless. Instead Steve faced Wo Fat's smiling figure with a deep breath, and as calm as anyone could be in the face of imminent death.

"Well, Commander, I hope you enjoyed the last half-year of your life," the Korean told him in a tone of voice as if he were talking about the weather. "Lots of worry, heartache and the elation of reunion – you and LT Rollins have been quite the soap opera. Working on her as I did you was quite an honor. She would have done you proud."

Steve had to close his eyes at the anger that burned through him at the crime lord's admission to have tortured the woman he loved until suddenly a realization clicked back into his mind. He'd suspected it when Danny had pointed out to him that Catherine must have looked for reasons to justify breaking up with him when she didn't really feel it in her heart. Now, though, Wo Fat's words became almost a confession to having had his hands in the whole situation, a confession to having forced Catherine's hand in the office that day.

"Why?", he asked. "Why come between me and Cath? Why torture her only now? Why kill my mother now? You must have had Doris for days at least, probably ever since she disappeared months ago. Why now?"

Wo Fat took a deep breath himself, but didn't answer. He hadn't been able to shoot her at the safe house, and while he'd admit to a certain sense of pleasure in having Doris McGarrett suffer in the limbo of her uncertain fate, the simple truth was that he couldn't kill the woman before. Even now, thinking about grabbing his gun and shooting her in the chest, he did not feel the relief or elation he had all these years imagined he would feel at finally avenging his father's death. In their endless chase, he seemed to have grown fond of his murderer again. Her death had been a consequence of his anger as he'd realized that McGarrett must have uncovered his mole, and was probably tracing the call.

"I have no answer to give that could satisfy you, Commander," Wo Fat finally replied, cocking the gun and moving his finger over the trigger. Several shots rang out before the body fell lifelessly to the ground. (2) The standing man's head turned around, and noted with gratitude that his people were standing there, all guns fired. It was impossible to tell which one of them had delivered the final blow to his enemy, not that he cared as he went willingly into their midst. They gathered around him, patting him on the back, asking him if he was okay, and, in the case of a former teammate of his, commending him on staying alive long enough for the man to save his ass yet again.

Danny approached him cautiously.

"Are you okay?"

Steve looked over the faces of his friends and colleagues. He thought about his mother, thought about all the girls tortured and killed because of him, thought about all the pain and anxiety his team had gone through, and wondered for one short, infinite moment if he would ever be alright again. Then his thoughts turned towards to Catherine, alive and healing from her innumerable injuries, in the hospital, to the arrests they'd made that would make his home a safer place, to the fact that the people he was closest to were still alive, and to the best goddamn night he'd ever spent on a cold, hard floor. He shook his head.

"No, but I will be," he told his partner truthfully. _As soon as I see her smiling face_, he thought. There would be a time to break down, to face what had happened, and mourn – but not now. His relationship with his mother had not been a close one, but he could not face her death right now. Not alone. He needed to focus on what he still had, on the lives saved. He needed to make things right with Cath. There was the trauma she had suffered to consider. They would face that and his mother's death together, face her parents together, and they would be alright. "Assuming I survive meeting the parents."

The last phrase, though mumbled to himself, carried to his loved ones, and had the operation ending on a happy, laughing note.

5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0

"He threatened you, didn't he?", were Steve's first words as he came through the door of her room, closely followed by his SEAL team and Five 0 who'd thought they'd come along for moral support. Something more might become necessary in a short while, they realized, as they watched Steve walk right up to Catherine, completely ignoring both men in uniform and the elder woman sitting at her bedside. Captain Coulston seemed mostly amused and perhaps slightly intrigued at Steve's breach of protocol, but the Admiral beside him bristled at the firm tone the younger SEAL was directing at his daughter. Her mother merely raised a curious eyebrow, and frowned disapprovingly at the man.

Catherine just gave him a look that was equally startled and understanding.

"Wo Fat. He told you to break it off, or he'd hurt you, am I right?", he asked, clarifying, while simultaneously enveloping her in his arms, and nearly lifting her out of her hospital bed. Catherine's arms came around him instantly despite the slight burning sensation the pressure to her contusions was provoking. She held onto him tightly, disregarding the protesting squeeze her mother gave her thigh. Steve was holding her to him like she was his lifeline, and she could feel a tension in him that had to come from something more than this discovery. Something must have happened during their operation that had him on edge still. She didn't know what had happened to him or to Wo Fat, but if Steve was here, things must have gone well enough not to bother about the details right now. He would tell her when he would tell her.

The tears were beginning to spill over again as she looked at him. Six months. Six bloody months of trying to get him to see the truth without ever being able to say a single word, and he'd almost gotten it now. The sheer relief of Steve figuring out what was going on, of knowing he understood what she did and why she did it, prompted a fresh stream of tears to run down her cheeks. Tears of joy. Of fear. Of frustration. Of relief.

"Not quite," she answered quietly as he attempted to wipe away her tears. She wondered when she had turned into such a crybaby, but to be fair she had been holding them in for over half a year now. She decided she was allowed some more tears. He had raised an eyebrow at her when she failed to continue, and was looking at her expectantly. "I got a phone call, telling me I better break it off or else... He didn't threaten me, though. He threatened you and your mother. Danny. Chin. Kono. Even Max and Kamekona. Everyone we hold dear, and he said he would make me watch you die if I didn't comply with him. I tried to tell you that something was wrong; the moment I opened my mouth that day, it should have been clear to you that I didn't mean a word of it. Everything I did, every time we spoke... I tried to tell you, you big oaf!"

She shot him an angry glare she couldn't quite suppress. Steve was so dense sometimes...

"I know," he whispered back. "I know, I'm so sorry it took me this long to figure it out. You always were the brains, and I was the brawn in this relationship, though, remember?"

His question was accompanied by a tentative smile that only grew broader when she smiled right back at him. They kissed sweetly, and completely ignored Admiral Rollins' attempt to catch their attention to say something.

"You were right, by the way. Mine were stupid reasons, and I couldn't decide what I wanted," he admitted to her. Only to her; they might as well have been alone in the room for how much attention either of them paid everyone else. "I know now. I want you in my life, no more doubts. I can't promise I won't worry, but I had a taste of living without you, and it made me realize that I'm not whole without you."

Danny felt close to tears when he heard his friend echo what he'd said to him in regards.

"I love you. I haven't said it much before, and even then it took me the prospect of seeing you settle down with someone else for me to get the words out. I love you, and I want the chance to tell you that every day for the rest of my life. I want more nights making love to you on my living room floor.," he added with a wiggle of his eyebrows to the scandalized gasp of her mother, and several people shaking their heads at his antics.

"As if you'd ever manage that with how often you get called away on a case, and always when I'm in town for a weekend," Catherine told him, giggling and smiling mischievously at him. He grinned back goofily.

He kissed her again, then pulled her against his chest, kissing and murmuring into her hair. His arms went around her more fully than they had been before, and he lent down this time to place her gently back onto the mattress even if that meant bending his back at an awkward angle. They were the only two people in the room; the only two they took notice of anyway. His mother had just died, and he'd taken some very bad hits, but here, now he was okay enough. They would deal with it later; together. He placed a hand on the back of her head as she snuggled her cheek further against his shoulder, then buried his nose in her dark hair.

As he kept murmuring softly to her, eyes closed, Danny realized that all he was saying was that he loved her. The detective smiled as he watched them hold onto each other delicately, but strongly enough to showcase their deep connection. At his continued whispers of _I love you_ even her father didn't seem tempted to get a word in edgewise about the whole _making love on the floor_ thing. Leaning his head to the side, Danny took a step back, removing himself from the picture to gaze at it like a fine connoisseur of the arts. Everyone was surrounded by friends and family, and strangers yet to become ohana.

_All's well that ends well. Well enough, anyway_, Danny thought settling his gaze back onto the couple.

**End of Love is not enough!**

**A/N: **I believe in happy endings (cause I see enough sad ones in real life), but I don't always like them neatly wrapped up.

I'd like to continue this in a **series of** **oneshots**, maybe, and this gives you the chance to prompt me. **If there is a loose end you want tied up or another aspect of the story you'd like more details on, prompt me****.** It might take me a while sometimes, but, unless my muse completely refuses to cooperate, I'll get it done – hopefully to your satisfaction and enjoyment.

**(1)** I don't know if it's even possible, though I doubt it a bit. Still, I'm going to pretend that it is possible for the sake of this story. Artistic license.

**(2)** I have very seriously considered to end this chapter here, and leave you with that cliffhanger, but I thought that it would be beyond mean, and there wasn't too much more to the story anyway.


End file.
